Food - Finished yesterday’s big bowl of rice and ate a new one (~450g carbs)
1/2 gal chocolate milk
4 eggs
First, should have worked out today. Was so restless I had to go to the park and sprint a little.
On a similar note, my pants have become incrementally tighter since I didn’t sprint at all this past week. Lately I’ve just been doing it “whenever I had the energy”, which is much less likely to happen if I bench bench bench until I can’t even do 6x135. So for a start I’ll kick out 50-60% of the junk volume I do on benching days that a) doesn’t even give me a pump and b) doesn’t seem to be making my bench go up. Sprints right after.
Tried eating before working out but it would be like I forcibly insert a spoonful of rice in my mouth and it takes 5 minutes of chewing before it goes down. Was already fueled up and feeling wired from yesterday.
Bench
3 singles at 245 - no significant strength gain from doing marathon benching 3x/week.
8,6x185
17,14,x135
pull-ups between sets
OHP
12x95
7x115
7x95
sprints
post-workout - 1/2 gal milk - probs a big reason for stomach bloating
1 lb chicken
start on rice bowl, will update tomorrow
Then I went home, ate, sat down for ~30 minutes. After that I went back out to sprint up this hill. I did four total runs, and have a new best of just under 54 seconds to go up, touch this tree, and get back down to my car. For what’s left of winter break, I will make a habit of doing two a days like this. Main session in the morning (bench, squat, tug) and something else at night (sprints/pull-ups).
Worked up to 1x405 deadlift… was way harder than it should’ve been. Tried to do GMs, started with 135 and instead of getting that quick bounce out of the bottom and feeling my hams click into action, it was a slow grind just to get two. Tried squatting 185, got stuck at the bottom and had to mentally go through the individual steps of spreading the floor, pushing my legs up, getting tight, to get the weight up.
Hard to eat a lot of the same stuff at home though, parents hate seeing me eat out of super big bowls of rice like it’s nothing.
Further, 3x/week benching has not helped. I’ve been at it for months and no decisive PRs; I’m not even able to do more singles at 245. Maybe I’m doing it wrong because all the Russians on the Internet seem to be making super gains from it. Looking back historically best bench progress has come from pressing 1-2x/week.
So this looks good to take me through winter break:
Ate. New Years Day gym was closed. Between the two days I had(no particular order):
6 oz (uncooked) spaghetti (125g)
1 lb chicken
2 pancakes (100g)
8 eggs
2 croissants (60g)
a big bowl of rice (300g)
1/2 gal normal milk (100g)
3 c oats (150g)
3 bananas (90g)
Tug
1x365
1x405
1x425
1x445
1x455 - PR. Significantly easier and more decisive than 445 last time I maxed, and my only gear is still just shirt sweats and chalk. Somebody tell Hugh Jackman.
1x405
GMs
9x185
6x205
3x215
Was spent. Not even sprints.
Thinking take tomorrow off to eat a lot and max on bench on Sunday. I can still 4x/week this way, I just can’t have two off days in a row.
Also, food is REALLY easy to arrange. Basically I can’t just wake up and get a bowl of rice the size of my head for breakfast while living at home. But it’s really easy to split up into tasteful combinations and with some oats here and a little spaghetti there before I know it I’ve eaten everything I need.
Man what did I eat since the end of that deadlift day.
Maybe some oats last night
1/2 gal choc milk right after (200g)
At least 1/2 gal regular milk by now (100g)
2 pancakes (100g)
2 fruits (60g)
8 oz spaghetters (168g)
1/2 lb chick-can
1 rice bowl (300g)
1 banana (30g)
Total is 958g carbs so far, that’s not counting the oats that I’m PRETTY sure I ate but oh well.
Bench
1x235
0x245
7,6x185
12,4x135
Was gonna do just bench, but since I started struggling here I switched to…
OHP
17x95 - I thought maybe I could put some more weight on
1,1x135 - nope.
DB OHP
2x8x45s, then was stuck
Food is not an issue and sleep isn’t either.
Today could have been bad because of a) the recent new max on deadlift (CNS taxing body joints blah blah) or b) my body immediately recognized the reduction in benching frequency and started dissolving away active chest and shoulder tissue. Use or lose it right?
I can find out by switching this upcoming week’s 1RM tugs for less stressful 5RM squats. If a) is right then next bench day should go well. If b) is right then it will still be crappy.
I took a semester to put 20 pounds on my bench, I can take a week to run an experiment.
Appetite has been very low the past few days. Took me an hour to get half way through a bowl of oats this morning. Normally would’ve been like gulp gulp gulp. Anyways here’s what I did today.
Weight at 201 according to my parents scale (so 196 on the scale I normally use). Measured with clothes.
Squat
18x225 - New record for high reps
Seated DB OHP
13x50s, 8x55s
Low back was on fire (not pain, more just liked too pumped to work) so these gave it a break.
GMs
8x135
Sprints (3)
Could’ve called it a day after just that set of squats.
Food:
1 qt milk
4 eggs
10 oz spaghetti
didn’t buy chicken… wtf? better get on that tomorrow.
I will start bboying again once I’m back at school. 90s, mills, headspins, all of that.
I have a 5x/week schedule in mind, and I will tweak it according to how well I can recover. Practice 4x/week, heavy lifting 2x/week, and assistance work for all.
I will also try approaching heavy lifting more like “practicing heavy lifting”; I know my press has responded better to 80% properly than 100% grinders.
Goals for Spring are:
Clean barrel mills, headflips, 90s, drill headspins
Put 195 overhead w.o leg drive
Squatting more would be nice, but the lower body work is there so that I bboy better, eg swiping/whipping around, keeping full body tension. So if I report back in the summer with nothing new but a stronger squat, slap me.
bboying!
Swipes, and footwork
Floor was too sticky for rolling/sliding moves
Did one HSP! Didn’t feel hard, just unfamiliar
Pull-ups - 6,3,1
I am not sure whether I’ll do high rep squats. I don’t see why I should squat more than once a week if I’m not specializing on it. Also, after high rep squats my day is usually 90% done. One hard set, some shoulders maybe and I’m dead.
Although high rep squats have proven to be an excellent way to get better at high rep squats: I went from 15x185 to 18x225 in about 3 months.
Bench
Probably at least 8 singles with 225+
Maxed at 1x245 once
Then 17x135
Then a variety of assistance, I think I will be best off just doing more shoulders if I have time left after benching in the future.
So by switching from deads to squats I was able to come in within 24 hrs and still hit my best bench performance. I woke up today with none of the training hangover that max deads give me. Where 48 hrs after deads last week I was reluctant to hit the gym, 24 hrs after squats this week I was ready to go.
Also, it doesn’t look like 1x/week benching will make my bench go down.
Bboying
Barrel mills - 6 months no practice and hitting doubles from coindrop my first day back
1990s - blagh. Tired from barrels and I guess not practicing has to cost you somewhere. Still got a best of <1-1/2
Handhops - Tired quick with these but still got two hops.
Monkey flip - lost these ever since I’ve been above 165. Not a hard move, I should get it back.
In the past drilling barrel mills all week has been counterproductive, maybe I will only do them 2x/week tops.