Squat-
135lbx3
185/225/255/275lbx1
255lb, 4x6/+1 after 30 seconds of resting
Much easier mentally. Also had to have been easier physically since I didn’t feel anywhere near as tired afterwards.
First two sets felt pretty easy. The next two weeks felt much more difficult in relation; some grinding with the last two reps. The rest-pauseish rep was pure grind.
Superset of pull-up and RFESS
9/9/7 on the pull-up
3x9 on the RFESS
Failed the eighth rep of the pull-up. So close too, but couldn’t finish the entire motion.
Hanging leg raise-
5/5/3
Wanted to superset these with barbell RDL, but couldn’t find a spare barbell laying around.
The first two sets actually felt fine. Abs lost all ability to get my feet to the bar on the fourth rep though, so I called it quits.
Actually snatched the 65lb up. It felt ok. The problem is that my balance starts to shift onto my knees as I go along with the 65lb. Not sure if it’s because I’m weak or tight somewhere. Probably both. I’m not sure how you’re supposed to be able to snatch actual weight without having weightlifting shoes.
Bench press-
95lbx3
135lbx1
DB row-
75lbx3
Superset of bench press and DB row-
155/175lbx1, 145lb, 10/10/9 on the bench press
95lb, 5x5 on the DB row
Probably could have gotten 3x10 on the bench, but I didn’t want to chance it. I’ve pinned myself way too frequently and I’d rather not experience that again.
The rows felt ok. Easy on the right side, actual work-out for the left. Grip starts to weaken around the fourth set.
Felt fine. In fact, the pulls felt pretty effortless.
Squat-
135/185/225/255lbx1
275lb, 5x3
Felt solid. No grinds iirc. Some reps felt slower than the others, but then some also felt quite fast as well. Lift actually started to feel better as the sets went on.
Pretty sure I’ve re-acquainted myself with “heavy” weights pretty well by now. Now I have to see whether this has any positive influence on my volume stuff.
I think doing cleans before the squats help get my body ready for squatting.
Pull-up-
x5
+20lb, 5/5/5/4/4 (60 sec rest)
Superseted with a rotation between lunges- reverse lunge/cossack squat/forward lunge/ cossack squat/ reverse lungex5
Clean deadlift-
135/185/225/275lbx2
Grip wasn’t solid on the 275lb; should have used hook grip.
Good day. Not sure whether I should go onto 5x4 with the 275lb or move up to 285lb and start this all over again.
Superset of OHP and DB row-
115lb, 6/6/5/5/4 on the OHP
110lb, 5x3 on the row. Did the last set without putting the DB down. Not too bad; grip feels better.
Complex-
row/full hang clean/front squat/OHP/back squat/good morning
95lb, 3x3
Only did the good morning on the first set. Didn’t do them afterwards because I haven’t done these in -years and so they just felt bad. I should do RDL or something as a substitute.
This was meant to be a baseline test. I didn’t expect it to be difficult, but I seriously overestimated how much I can move with the BTN press. It’s either that or my shoulders were very tired after the 115lb. Either I drop the weight or I remove the back squat entirely and replace it with something else so that I don’t have to do the BTN press.
Again, legs more than capable of handling this, but mind feels a lot of strain. Got a headache by the end of this. Didn’t help that it felt like over 90F inside the gym.
Pull-up superseted with reverse lunges-
x5
+25lb, 5/5/3/4/4 on the pull-up
5x5 on the lunge
Superset of hanging leg raise and BB RDL-
5x4 on the leg raise
45lb, 5x5 on the RDL
Today felt miserable. Much too hot inside the gym + headache. I’ve also been getting very poor sleep recently due to a number of issues.
Edit- Noticed that my right knee feels tight and feels agitated when I try to move it in various ways. Hopefully nothing bad.
Worst sleep I’ve had in years. Still managed to do most everything I planned on doing. Body felt dead tired afterwards though.
OHP-
95lbx5
115lbx3
135lbx1
BB row-
135lbx5
155lbx3
185lbx2
Superset of push-press and BB row-
145lb, 5x5 on the push-press
165lb, 5x6 on the row
My right knee felt bad while I did my squat warm-up. Tingly shooting sensation goes from the side of my knee down to my feet. Decided not to do full cleans today; power-cleaned instead.
I hate the power clean; I am very bad at catching the bar when I power clean and so I tend to smash into the bar. Rattles my arms.
Anyways, felt fine.
Superset of DB bench and DB row
50/60/70lbx5 on the bench
75lb, 3x5 on the row
And that’s it.
I don’t know if I can squat tomorrow; will judge depending on how my knee feels during the warm-up. If it feels bad then I’ll have to go and do deadlifts or something.
Nevermind, today was the worst sleep I’ve had in years. Got what I think is three total hours of sleep.
This coughing fit/mucus issue is threatening to do some serious damage to me if I continue to have a hard time sleeping. This new apartment and its AC is doing something horrible to me.
Today-
Squat-
135lbx3
185/225/255/285lbx1
225lb, 5x5 (one minute rest, fast tempo)
My knee felt ok during the actual act of squatting, but it felt a little weird when I was resting. That + 3 hours of sleep made me decide to not push the squats today.
The squat didn’t feel difficult, which I found surprising because fast tempo squats like this hurt bad the last time I tried it.
Superset of pull-up and RFESS
9/9/6 on pull-up
3x5 on the RFESS
No sense in pushing anything today
Superset of BB RDL and decline sit-up
135lbx5, 185lb, 4x5 on the RDL
5x10 on the sit-up
Superset of Bench and DB row-
155/175lbx1, 155lb, 3x7 on the bench
95lb, 5x6 on the row
The bench didn’t feel that bad, but not sure if I can get 3x8 next week. We’ll see.
Rows are getting better with the left side.
Superset of overhead squat and dip-
45lb, 2x5, 65lb, 3x5 on the overhead squat
7/7/7/7/5 on the dip
I don’t know about my knee. It tingles and feels funny when I’m sitting and walking. It feels something that comes very close to approaching what would be considered pain occasionally when I squat.
I’ll just keep going until it blows up or something.
Superset of DB snatch and press and TRX row-
50bl, 5x3 on the snatch and press
5x7 on the row
Clean-
95lbx2
115/135/145lbx1
155lb, 10x1 (one min rests)
Felt fine. I’ve noticed that I start pulling really high and don’t attempt to pull myself under the bar if I don’t pay attention. The later reps started to get a bit “jumpy”.
Front squat-
135/165/185/205lbx1
My knee felt something on the 185lb and then felt actual pain on the 205lb, so I called it.
Hopefully it’s ok by next week.
Superset of chin-up/dip/single leg deadlift-
13 sets of 4 on the chin-up/dip and 1 on the deadlift.
Alternated between NG pull-up and chin-up.
Knee tingled and felt weird all throughout. Felt tight and some pressure when I did the 285lb.
The 255lb didn’t feel difficult. I think it’s because I was so preoccupied with my knee that I just did reps. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not, but if it didn’t feel difficult then fine by me.
Think form is improving.
Pull-up
5
+25lb, 5/5/5/4/3
Superseted some lunges, but stopped when my knee felt weird. Lunges are a definite no-go until the knee is good.
Superset of clean and press and BB row-
135lb, 5 sets of 1 clean and 2 press
185lb, 5x3 on the BB row
Felt fine, but god-damn my form got ugly with the presses on the last two sets or so.
Clean deadlift-
135lbx1
185/225/275lbx2
Hook grip practice.
Superset of DB OHP, TRX row, and sit-up-
30lb, 5x10 on the DB OHP
5x8 on the TRX row
4x10 on the sit-up
Decided to do the sit-up after the first set. TRX row got a bit hard near the end. 30lb is way too light, but I thought I’d get fatigued near the end.
I don’t understand what’s going on with my knee. It tingled during the warm-up front squats and cleans, but then I felt virtually nothing during the work-set of clean and press. Only felt some tingling while I got off the floor after the sit-ups, and I think that’s because I got up using my right ("injured) knee.
Now it tingles a bit as I’m writing this. Dunno if I should be taking a rest from any real loaded movements or if I can just ignore this.
Superset of bench and DB row-
155/175lbx1, 155lb, 3x8 on the bench
95lb, 5x7 on the DB row
The bench felt easy up till the last set, where the last two reps felt difficult.
The rows felt fine. Getting better with left side.
Superset of cable row and dip-
60lb, 5x12 on the cable row
5x8 on the dip
Got a nice and long rest while waiting for the cable row station to open up, so the dip didn’t feel that bad. Trying my very darn best to get good back positioning during the rows. These felt hard on those tiny upper back muscles. I will need to use a wider grip next time though.
Superset of BTN press and hanging bent-knee raise off a dip bar-
45lb, 3x10 on the BTN press
3x10 on the bent-knee raise
Deadlift-
135lb, 5/3/3
225lb, 4x1 (I think? I forget)
275/315/345/365/385/405lbx1
425lbx0
Decided to deadlift instead of heavy squats due to knee.
The 405lb is a 20lb PR.
Almost had the 425lb; bar passed the knees and I think it got to about mid-thigh, but failed to lock it out. My legs clearly had the strength do this, but I think my entire back and posterior chain (mainly glutes?) didn’t have the strength. Not all that surprising, since I don’t do a lot of heavy posterior chain work that comes anything close to the weight I use for the deadlift.
Pull-up-
x5
+25lb, 5/5/4
I didn’t feel fatigued after the deadlifts initially. In fact, the only thing that felt anything was my thumbs. Then I decided I didn’t want to do anything for the rest of the day, so I called it.
Back extension-
2x10
It would have been pretty awesome if I hit that 425lb deadlift…
Forearms fried as usual; could barely make a fist. To be completely honest though, this felt pretty easy beyond that. I would have done 8s if I wasn’t scared that my forearms will fail me after the second set.
Superset of cable row and hanging leg raise off a dip bar-
60lb, 5x12 on the cable row
5x5 on the hanging leg raise
Many of those leg raises would probably be properly categorized as swinging leg raises.
Thinking of doing more deadlifts as opposed to squats for the next couple of weeks, since my knee doesn’t feel anything at all when I deadlift.
Maybe one regular squat a week, cleans, and deadlifts on the rest of the days.
Superset of chin-up/dip/single leg deadlift-
10x5 on the chin-up/dip
10x1 on the single-leg deadlift
Felt like I started approaching muscle failure around the seventh set, so I started taking 20 second rests for sets 8-10. The reps on the tenth set felt like big grinds anyways, so close to muscle failure indeed.
The 285lb felt very slow, so I knew that the reps wouldn’t be good today.
Condition during these felt the complete opposite of the last couple of weeks. Felt fine mentally but the reps felt very slow after 4-5 reps.
Probably due to the deadlifts on Friday + not back squatting on Friday. The main reason I back squat three times a week is because my body gets bad at it otherwise. It’s probably the same reason why my back squat drops by like 10-20lb if I take even a short vacation.
On the plus side, knee feels much better. Only felt tiny little pin-pricks on the side every now and then; the tingling sensation and general feeling that something is off appears to be gone.
Superset of pull-up and RFESS
One unweighted set of 5 for both.
+20lb, 6/6/6/5/4 for the pull-up
+10lb, 5x5 for the RFESS. Held dumbbell goblet squat style.
Trying to add more volume to the pull-up since the 25lb isn’t progressing as much as I’d like.
RFESS is awesome.
Superset of KB swing/RDL/decline sit-up
24kg, 4x10 on the swing
205lb, 8/8/6/6 on the RDL
4x10 on the sit-up
205lb was far too heavy for this; should have gone with 165lb or 185lb.