Today-
Squat-
135lbx3
185/225/245/265/285lbx1
265lb, 6/6/4/3/5/1
Tired myself out by the third set. Recovered by the fifth set.
I think I could have done six reps on the fifth set, but didn’t have safety bars so I didn’t chance it.
Leaned forward a bit on the last rep.
Pull-up-
x5
+15lb, 5x5
Barbell row-
45lb, 3x20
As strict as I can possibly do these.
And that was it because I got to the gym late.
I know it’s a really unpopular opinion these days, but have you ever went heavy on your rows and used momentum a tad? My back is my best body part, and heavy ass rows and pulls built it in my opinion. Kroc rows, heavy ass rows, etc with strict work after on things like pull ups, seated/laying rows, and pull downs to add volume.
It has the added benefit of making you strong as an ox. The biggest thing you need to make sure though is that you keep your back neutral and abs braced like you were doing a deadlift.
Any luck on the phone?
I’ve never gone heavy with the barbell row while fresh. However, barbell rowing is one of those things that I plan on doing again, so I’ll try it out.
As for the phone- My phone can still record stuff! quality seems to suck, but at least it records.
It’s impossible to film things on the weekdays because the gym is far too crowded. I can record my clean from hangs on Sundays though. I’ll try to record what I do on the 30th. I will be away for the next week and a half on a trip. Basically don’t plan on lifting besides using an apartment gym/calisthenics from the 14th to 24th. It’ll be good for my body.
Oh, okay. Sounds good. We could all use some rest sometimes. I had developed crippling elbow tendonitis last cycle, and the planned deload saved me. lol
Today-
Clean from hang into push-press-
135/155lbx1
5 sets of 1 clean and 5 push-presses
1 set of 3 cleans
It feels like my form on the first pull is far too inconsistent. A major part of the problem comes from the fact that I do it on a hang but don’t really choose a consistent depth that I drop the barbell down to.
I think I should spend time on clean pulls and drilling a consistent form. Maybe do it more like a complex where I do one clean pull then a clean.
Barbell row-
135lbx5
155lbx3
185/205lbx1
The 205lb was crappy. Form is too bad for me to even attempt to use momentum in a productive manner.
155lb, 4x5
Going to do what Destrength suggested. Hell, I think I’m going to stop benching for the time being and just do barbell and dumbbell rows instead. The only pressing I’ll do are dips and overhead stuff.
Swan pull-up/dip superset
5x5 on the pull-up, 5x7 on the dips.
Barbell curl-
45lb, 3x20
Today-
Deadlift-
135lb, 3x5
225lb, 3x1
275/315/365lbx1
The 365lb felt heavy. Probably a combination of too high of a weight jump + the barbell rows I’ve done yesterday. My upper back felt tired.
Did the 405lb challenge thing in the BSL sub-forum.
Used 345lb for the weight, got 16 reps. Hand started cracking and bleeding slightly at places around the 10th rep. Ripped the scab and some surrounding skin off when I dropped the weight on the 16th rep, so I stopped. Don’t think it’s sanitary to continue doing reps with a bleeding wound.
This wasn’t all that difficult; definitely could have done more. However, I think the fact that I tore my scab off means that I started losing control over the barbell. Probably would have been fine if I just let myself drop down instead of a sorta-controlled descent.
I might try this again with a heavier weight (365lb because that’s just 45lbs and 25lbs?) when my scab heals up completely + the weather doesn’t dry my skin out so much. Sometime around June?
Squat-
135/185/225/245/265lbx2
Pull-up-
5x5
Mixed it around between neutral and overhand grips.
I am now off on a trip for the next week and a day, so no logging or real lifting till the 26th. The last time I took a week off, I lost 20lb on my squat. Hopefully that doesn’t happen this time; need to get enough food.
I’m back.
Turns out that the apartment I stayed at for my trip had a (crappy) barbell! So I did clean and presses with light weight.
I tried a full clean and it seems that I can actually do these without discomfort, so I’ll try to see if I can do that again tomorrow.
Anyways, today-
Squat-
135lbx3
185/225/245/265/285lbx1
I don’t get how some people get by with just squatting once a week. Based on this log, it’s been 14 days since I squatted. The weight actually felt uncomfortable and heavy on my back. Regardless, I was more or less back to normal by the 285lb. Knew that I couldn’t hit 265lb for good reps though, so I went with 235lb instead.
235lb,
8/8/6/3
Bar speed felt good and consistent on all those sets. The problem came from the fact that I felt incredibly sore, to the verge of spasms, after the second set. So I played it safe. Looks like that I lost muscle endurance and some work capacity, since this felt very tiring as well.
Expect to see everything back to normal by next week.
Also going to go ahead with that deload. Plus I’m going to change things up a bit. Hopefully it goes well.
Pull-up-
x5
+10lb, 5/5/5/4/4
I did do some pull-ups at the apartment gym, but they were always after fairly easy clean and presses, so not really comparable to what I did with the squats. Again, I expect to see this back to normal by next week.
RDL-
45lbx10
135lb, 3x10
Focusing on getting a really big stretch from hinging.
RFESS-
5x5
Legs too tired to attempt 5x10.
Hanging leg raise-
5/5/5/2/2
Back raise-
3x10
Yay, didn’t lose any strength this time around. Did gain 3-4lb of scale weight though, probably 1.5-2lb of that is real fat. Last I checked, I currently weigh 173.4ish. If that doesn’t drop on its own down to 170lb or so within two weeks then I’ll need to tweak diet.
Today-
Clean and press-
95lb, 2x1
115/125/135lbx1 (the 135lb was a push-press)
Clean-
135lb, 3x3
The cleans felt easy.
OHP-
105lb, 3x8
Barbell row-
45lb, 2x10
135lb, 6/8/10
Wanted to test my upper back strength to see if anything got weaker. Nope. Hell, feels stronger than before.
Superset of swan pull-up/dip-
5x5 on the pull-up, 5x6 on the dip.
The dips felt more difficult than they had any right to be. I need to arch the back more and get better form with the pull-ups.
Superset of barbell curls(45lb)/lateral raise variations with a 5lb plate.
5x10
Today-
My legs are killing me. I can barely stand if I’ve been sitting for some time. Each step requires effort. Fuck DOMS.
Personally, I think the best way to beat DOMS is to just do more reps, so that’s what I did.
Deadlift-
135lb, 3x5
225lb, 3x1
275/315/345lbx1
The 315lb felt iffy, probably because of DOMS. The 345lb felt fine though.
275lb, 3x10
Placed athletic tape over my torn shin today. Did the trick; scraping the shin doesn’t tear anything and so I can go scraping all day without a care, except when the tape starts to fall off because of sweat.
Squat-
Did a ladder with no rest in between besides changing weights
45/135/185/225/185/135/45lbx5
Originally planned on going up to 245lb, but the 225lb felt challenging enough for my legs.
Pull-up-
x5
+15lb, 5/5/5/3/3
Hanging leg raise-
5/5/2/2
Lower back felt dead.
Today-
Barbell row-
45lb, 3x10
95lbx5
135/155/175lbx3
195lbx1
155lb, 5x5
Bench press-
45lb, 3x10
95/135/155/175lbx1
135lb, 3x8
Swan pull-up-
5/5/5/3/3
These feel much more difficult when I take actual strict rests instead of doing them in a superset.
DB row-
75lb, 5/10/10/10/10/15
Barbell curl-
45lb, 2x25
leg raises with bent knee-
3x10
Going to take some time and figure out how to organize assistance work better.
Today-
Squat-
135/185/225/245/265lbx1
The chat I’m having with Evolv made me want to test my PR + I wanted to break in my new Converse All Star. It was a bad idea. I figured I’d be ok since the soreness had mostly gone away but nope. The 265lb felt genuinely heavy.
Front squat-
135/185/205lbx1
165lb, 3x8
This felt ok.
Superset of chin-up/dip/single-leg deadlift
5x6 on the chin-up/dip, 5x5 on the deadlift
leg raises with bent knee-
3x10
lol, dammit what did I say!?
=(
To be fair, I think yesterday’s utter failure came from the fact that I was still sore and tired from the 235lb.
Today… bleh
Squat-
135lbx3
185/225/245/265lbx1
These felt pretty good. Didn’t go for 285lb because I didn’t see the point of doing so.
225lb, 10/10/6
Blah. Weaker. Started slowing down on the seventh rep of the second set. The last couple of reps on the third set came close to being grinders.
Dammit.
Superset of pull-up with reverse lunges and RFESS.
+15lb, 5/5/5/5/4 on the pull-up. Two sets of 10 body reverse lunges and then three sets of 10/5/5 on the RFESS.
RDL-
45lbx10
135lb, 3x8
leg raises with bent knee-
3x10
Today-
Superset of OHP and Barbell row-
Ramp up to 135lb push-press for the OHP.
Ramp up to 205lb for the row.
115lb, 5x5 for OHP
155lb, 6/6/5/6/5 for the row
This was fun. Took a lot longer than I expected to change the weights on the barbell though, I should probably do DB rows or do push-presses instead.
Lower back tired out quite a bit on this, hence the reason I did 5s on some of the rows.
Superset of TRX push-up and TRX row-
3/3/3/5/5/ on the push-up, 5x6 on the row.
First time doing TRX push-ups. These felt very hard to balance on, hence the 3s. I then got used to it. I’m pretty sure my form is horrible though. My core felt very weak and unstable.
Tuck levers-
3/3/2/2/2
Barbell curl-
45lb, 26/24
Things went much faster since I supersetted movements. Happy with that.
Today-
Squat-
135lbx3
185/225/245/265/285lbx1
225lbx8
195lb, 5x8
New program for some time. This is from Juggernaut Training Systems. You can find it on their Youtube channel.
The idea is to build leg strength for weightlifting, but the focus on higher reps appealed to me.
The structure I’ll be using is as follows-
8RM (conservative max, something you should be able to do with a rep or two in the tank)
Drop sets of 90% of the 8RM for a some number of sets. Max Aita of Juggernaut Training doesn’t specify, I chose 5 because 40 reps seemed high enough.
Increase weight by 10lb weekly.
When the weight becomes too heavy for the 8RM, drop the number of reps down to 6RM and repeat.
Since I have no reason to peak, I’ll do a deload when 6RM becomes too difficult.
I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t do well with reps of five or below on the squat. Thus, I plan on working entirely in between 6-8 reps for the squat for quite a while.
I should have done this on Monday, but I wanted to get a reading on how my leg strength is after the break. Starting light is a good idea, so I chose 225lb. Honestly, after today, I think I should go lighter- 205lb would be good. We’ll see what happens. The 225lb felt much harder than it was on Monday; I think it’s because I didn’t recover all that well in the last couple of days. Temperature spiked a good 20 degrees F in just two days. I do not do well in hot weather, so sleeping felt miserable and I kept waking up.
I seriously do not look forward to summer. I hate having no AC.
The 195lb felt very easy and fast for the first three sets, but I started to slow down on the last two. I’m worried that I’m going to hit a wall way too early.
Superset of pull-up and reverse lunges-
x5 pull-up
+15lb, 5x5
5x5 reverse lunges.
Pull-up strength mostly back to normal.
Hanging leg raise-
5/3/3/3/3
185lbs push press is ridiculously strong compared to the rest.
Today-
Clean and push-press-
135lb, 5x3
Superset of bench press and DB row-
Ramped up with bench first- 135/155/175lbx1
135lb, 3x8 with bench
75lb, 4x10 with the row
Superset of chin-up and dip-
5x5 on the chin-up
7/7/7/5/5 on the dip
leg raises with bent knee-
3x10
I use A LOT of leg drive with my push press, particularly as the weight gets heavier, to the point that it’s probably a really poorly done push perk than a push press. But since I’ve never done a split jerk or received any coaching whatsoever on the jerk, I just call it a push press.
That being said, I’m pretty sure my OHP and bench are weak because of mobility issues + I have just horrible, horrible form with them.
Today-
Squat-
135lbx3
185/225/245/265lbx1
245lbx9
This felt easy. Didn’t feel like bar speed changed at all up until the last rep, which is great. Honestly expected to start slowing down around rep 5-6.
Deadlift-
135lb, 2x5
225lb, 3x1
275/315/355lbx1
First time I pulled 355lb without chalk. Felt easy, good to see that grip strength is improving.
315lb, 5x5
This did not feel easy. Lots of random places ached and felt sore. Not sure why; might be because of the squats.
Pull-up
5x5
Today
OHP-
95lbx5
115lbx2
135lbx1
Push-press-
155lbx1
Picked up 175lb, felt like a million tons and so I didn’t bother.
Superset of push-press and DB row-
5x5 with 145lb for the push-press
5x5 with 95lb for the row.
Did the fourth and fifth set of the rows off the floor; grip started getting weaker.
Superset of TRX push-up and row-
5x5 on the push-up, 5x6 on the row
Barbell curl-
45lb, 30/20
Lateral raise with 5lb plates-
3x10