Short hiking trail with my dad.
Got up to the first “peak” on the trail (There are three in total) without stopping to catch my breath today + because the burn in my legs get too severe. This may have been because I didn’t do anything of note yesterday for lower body but I consider it a huge win regardless.
We’re expected to get rain all next week, so unlikely to be able to do any barbell training.
The left side of my body is noticeably tighter/less mobile than my right. This likely started as a result of minor imbalances that got worse and worse over time as I continued being a gymrat.
I figure things got worse during COVID because-
I walk even less than usual (at least I’d get a mile or two over the course of the day when I physically went to work.)
I spent 9 months not bothering to get a proper work set-up, relying instead on using my tiny laptop screen. This noticeably worsened my slouch.
I fixed both of these- I’m going on daily 2+ mile walks again + the trail runs + finally got some decent monitors and a keyboard setup.
I’m not too concerned tbh. I have no problem moving in everyday life. I just need to do the basic thing of walking more and counteracting the slouch.
I also added some basic mobility movements into my daily routine, but that’s because I wanted to act on my belief that it’s beneficial to move your body around. It’s dumb for me to think this but not actually do it.
OHP-
95lb, 4x12
Used leg drive a couple times; felt pretty tough by the end.
Superset-
Chin-up-2x13, 2x9
Push-up-4x20
20 rounds of-
5 pull-up (switched to chin-up at the 10th set)
10 push-up
15 squat
with a 10lb backpack.
Minute rest between each round.
It was supposed to begin raining around the time I started working out today, so I figured I’d do this and keep at it until the rain started.
Well, the rain never started. Heck, the light rain dropping at the start of my workout stopped by set 7. So… I figured I’d see how far I can do with this.
This felt fine up until set 18 when the chin-ups started to get difficult. I’m honestly surprised by how easy this felt. I would always crash by the time I got to set 12+ on these kinds of workouts, and that’s without a 10lb backpack.
Edit- Forgot to mention that I ran the hiking trail the day before. This was the first time I ran the entire thing without stopping at any point. It felt great.
Giant set-
OHP- 45lbx10, 85lb, 2x10, 2x8
Front squat- 45lbx10, 135lb, 2x10, 115lb, 2x10
Pull-up-5x9
Dip- 2x11, 1x10, 2x8
Upper body felt quite weak and exhausted. If I had to guess it’s accumulation of fatigue from sleeping little the last couple of days. I’m pretty sure this is accurate because it’s 11PM now and I feel like I’m about to just collapse and sleep.
Short hiking trail with my dad yesterday.
I ran the hills this time. First time I seriously felt my glutes and hamstrings kick in and it felt exhausting.
I think this is a good approach- run the hills and slow jog/walk the decline/flat when I’m with others to get that kind of stimulus and jog the entire thing when I’m alone so that I get more of a cardio specific stimulus.
Today-
Giant set-
OHP-45lbx10, 95lb, 4x7
Power clean- 45lbx10, 95lb, 4x10
Front squat- 45lbx10
Chin-up-3x10, 2x6
Dip-2x10, 1x9, 1x7, 1x6
Legs didn’t want to front squat today. I plan on walking the hiking trail with my dad later today so I didn’t want to tire them out anymore.
OHP felt ok. Dip didn’t feel good.
Giant set-
OHP- 45lbx10, 85lb, 4x10
Power clean- 45lbx10, 95lb, 4x10
Front squat- 45lbx10, 95lb, 4x10
Pull-up- 5x8
Dip-5x8
Felt quite good today.
OHP-
95lbx5
115lb, 4x6
Push-pressed rep 5/6 of set 3 and 4.
Deadlift-
135/185lbx5, 225lbx10 (TnG)
Had to reset my grip at rep 4 and 8. I am now very weak at the deadlift.
Chin-up- 1x15/10
Dip-1x14/11
Feels good to focus on strength. I don’t feel exhausted and I get to focus on getting good reps.
OHP-
95lbx5
115lb, 4x6
Push-pressed rep 4-6 of set 4.
Upper back felt extremely tired on this. It seems that it would be wise to not do this every other day.
Circuit-
Pull-up(+20lb)-5x5
Dip(+20lb)-5x5
Forward lunge (45lb BB)-5x5
Toe to bar- 5x3
Not hard.
Giant set-
OHP-45lbx10, 85lb, 4x10
Power clean- 45lbx10, 95lb, 4x5 (Set 1-3 as hip cleans)
Front squat- 45lbx10, BB forward lunge- 45lb, 4x8
NG pull-up- 3x8, Pull-up-2x8
Dip- 4x8, 1x10
Grip felt weak on the NG pull-up. I always find it so fascinating why I suck so bad at single leg work. My entire lower body, particularly my glutes, are sore right now.
BB row- 115lb, 4x12
Push-up-4x12
I need to get better at doing rows more often.
Edit- Forgot to mention that I went on the hiking trail the day before. Abs and legs felt noticeably tired that day.
Giant set-
OHP-45lbx10, 95lb, 4x8
Power clean- 45lbx10, 95lb, 4x5(hip cleans)
Front squat-45lbx10, BB forward lunge-45lb, 4x10
Pull-up-4x8, 1x9
Dip- 4x8, 1x10
BB row- 115lb, 1x15
Push-up-1x15
I had to cut this short because I ran out of time.
Felt good. Pull-up and dips feel easy until the last set.
I felt incredibly sore all over my body yesterday. I think I made the mistake of avoiding actual carb sources because I had pizza the day before. I guess carbs you ate the day before lifting doesn’t help you recover.
I made sure the same thing won’t happen today by eating a lot of Popeyes chicken and sides.
I am losing weight again- likely because I began taking a good 40-50min walk daily. My shorts feel noticeably looser.
Really cannot complain with how I am right now physically. I can’t wait for gyms to re-open so that I can start doing some hard lower body work.
OHP-
95lbx5
115lb, 4x6
Felt a lot better. Last rep felt grindy.
Circuit-
Pull-up(+20lb)-4x6
Dip(+20lb)-4x6
Forward lunge (65lb)-4x6
ROM on the pull-up got bad on the last set.
Realized that I forgot to do the toe to bar around set 3. Oh well.
Short hiking trail with my dad yesterday.
Today-
Giant set-
OHP- 45lbx10, 95lb, 4x8
Power clean- 45lbx10, 115lb, 4x6
Front squat- 45lbx10, BB forward lunge-45lb, 4x10
Pull-up- 4x8, 1x10
Dip- 4x18, 1x10
BB row- 115lb, 3x15
Push-up-3x15
Pull-ups felt tough today. This is almost certainly because of the power clean and lunges. Doing the lunges with correct upright form really tires out my midback. I think this is because I’m actively fighting against some sort of slouching.
OHP felt strong.
Giant set-
OHP-45lbx10, 95lb, 4x8
Power clean- 45lbx10, 95lb, 4x5(hip cleans)
Back squat- 45lbx10, 95lb, 2x10, front squat- 95lb, 2x10
Chin-up-4x8, 1x6
Dip- 3x8, 2x6
Push-pressed rep 6-8 on last set of OHP. Upper body felt fine but core and lower body felt wobbly and weak.
Ok, now I understand why squatting wrecked my lower body so much- I last squatted two weeks ago.
OHP-
95lbx5
115lb, 3x6, 1x7
Warm-up and the first set felt bad. This got a lot easier when I got aggressive with pushing the bar… Used a bit of leg drive on the last rep. Overall significantly easier.
Circuit-
Chin-up(+20lb)-3x7, 1x4
Dip(+20lb)-3x7, 1x4
Forward lunge (65lb)-3x7, 1x4
Felt pretty easy. Chin-ups feel a lot easier than pull-ups. I once again forgot to do toe to bar.
Giant set-
OHP-45lbx10, 85lb, 4x11
Back squat- 45lbx10, 95lb, 4x10
Power clean- 45lbx10, 95lb, 4x5(hip cleans)
Pull-up-5x8
Dip-5x8
Needed to take some deep breath between each exercise from set 4-5.
Giant set-
OHP- 45lbx10, 85lb, 4x11 (push-pressed last 3 reps)
Back squat- 45lbx10, 95lb, 3x10, front squat- 95lb, 1x10
Power clean- 45lbx10, 95lb, 4x5(hip cleans)
Pull-up-5x8 (rest-paused fourth set)
Dip-5x8 (rest-paused last set)
Didn’t do as well today. Not sure why but I began getting tired on the OHP from set 4.
Forgot to mention-
Superset-
Deadlift- 135lbx5, 225lb, 4x5
Push-up- 1x15, 3x12
OHP-
95lbx5
115lb, 3x6, 1x7
Again, first set felt bad. Rest felt strong.
Circuit-
Chin-up(+20lb)-2x8, 1x6, 1x3
Dip(+20lb)-2x8, 1x6, 1x3
Forward lunge (65lb)-2x8, 1x6, 1x3
Toe to bar-1x3
Hanging leg raise (to parallel)-3x5
Giant set-
OHP- 45lbx10, 95lb, 4x8
Back squat- 45lbx10, 95lbx10, front squat- 95lb, 3x10
power clean- 45lbx10, 95lb, 4x5 (hip cleans)
Pull-up-5x9
Dip-5x9
Ugh.
Edit-
Inverted row- 3x15
Push-up-3x15
Short hiking trail with my dad yesterday. Lower body felt like it was on fire during the first hill; finished it ~8 seconds faster than I normally do so that’s great.
Giant set-
OHP- 45lbx10, 85lb, 4x10
front squat-45lbx10, 95lb, 4x10
power clean- 45lbx10, 95lb, 4x6 (hip cleans)
Chin-up-5x10
Dip-3x10, 2x8
I’m getting sick of how annoyingly exhausting these are.
Also, my body genuinely feels stiffer after not about 4-5 days of not doing the morning mobility routine. If this isn’t enough to get me to continue doing them diligently then I’m just a big idiot.
I also keep forgetting to mention the superset I do after this-
BB row- 135lb, 5x10
BTN press- 45lb, 2x10, 55lb, 3x10
The row got easier as it went on.