Bench press 295x3
squats 315 5x5. These were meant to be kinda ‘speed squats’. They went well.
Some arm work for a good pump and to try to enhance recovery. Arms are feeling much better.
Tuesday:
arms felt better.
deadlift up to 525
did OHP with dumbbells for sets of 6-15. I think 5 total sets
Pullups, 50 total
Wednesday:
Squats:
405x5, x3, x3. Volume PR. I’ve never done more than 4 reps above 400 in a given session. So a PR for 1 set, and a total volume PR by a bunch of reps
bench press: 5x5 @ 245. Good speed on these. I’m way too slow on the descent with my first rep, especially when weights get heavier. Working on this.
Hammer machine iso pulldown thing, for a few sets.
really good session last night
bench press 315x1x1x1 all 3 singles paused. All went up with really good speed. I even had a shitty lift off on the 3rd single, had to do a lot of stabilizing before attempting it, and still got a good rep.
squats - there was some kind of crazy class going on in my squatting area last night, and a lot of plates were unavailable, so I ended up having to work with 205. Fortunately it was only my volume day, so I was able to make this work. 2 sets of 20, and 1 set of 10. The pump was real.
[quote]flipcollar wrote:
[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:
[quote]flipcollar wrote:
On Friday I worked up to a paused 315 bench press. It was kind of funny, because I almost didn’t get to press it at all. I had a spotter I didn’t know, and I didn’t tell him I was going to pause, so after the bar was on my chest for a second, he freaked out and started to reach for it like I was totally pinned. I saw him coming though, and pressed it, and fortunately he never put his hands on it. He came up to me later and asked how I did that, lol.
[/quote]
Ha! You need to start screening your spotters better, lol.
It is kinda funny: stuff that you take for granted, like a paused rep, it doesn’t even cross your mind to warn the spotter about it. Maybe you should carry around a manual of instructions.
[/quote]
My criteria for spotters is basically ‘who is the strongest looking available person in the gym’.
Yea, I generally do give at least some instruction, like ‘don’t touch the bar unless it literally starts going back down, or I say HELP’. Sometimes I’ll tell the spotter I’m going to pause the rep, other times I forget. I’ll even give a little instruction on how I want the lift off to be done if I think the spotter will get it.
One thing I’ve learned is not to tell the spotter you’re just going for 1 rep. If they know that, they’re generally more eager to touch the bar on that 1 rep.[/quote]
Lol that’s pretty much my criteria too considering I lift solo, don’t have a training partner, and I don’t have many friends that are as serious and on my training level to that where our schedules can match up.
I always try to educate them on my lift im about to do but it seems to never register very well. Even with some of the trainers I grab when the gym is empty. A simple “help me when I stop positive motion” just doesn’t make sense to a lot of gym goers. Always creeping with thier hands under the bar. Im like “fuck man I had that”. You’re hear for insurance purposes only! I think the only time a random spotter has not fucked up my lift is when they either weren’t paying much attention or were just taking plates off for drop sets.
Enjoyable read and solid numbers btw.
I get the same forearm issue from time to time. It bothers me the most on squats, particularly low bar. I’d love to hear about how to address the issue outside of gripping in a way that doesn’t hurt.
[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:
I get the same forearm issue from time to time. It bothers me the most on squats, particularly low bar. I’d love to hear about how to address the issue outside of gripping in a way that doesn’t hurt.[/quote]
If you figure it out let me know. I’m consistently dealing with elbow/forearm issues, although it used to be much worse.
I quit low bar squatting for a long period of time last year to heal up a bit. I’m back to low bar squatting now, and the only relief I’ve found is gripping wider than I used to. I used to grip as close to my shoulders as possible. Now I’m putting my first finger on the ring. I also don’t care so much about forcing my elbows down towards the ground as much as I used to. I may still do it on max attempts, but for the majority of training reps, I don’t believe it’s worth the wear and tear on my elbows.
Deadlift volume PR
495x2
545x1
545x1
This is the best deadlifts have felt in awhile. 545 is the most I’ve ever hit (did it last October), so to do it twice in a session, without any big psych up or anything, was nice. Didn’t shake on it going up the way I have been recently. I started with my hips higher, the way I used to deadlift, and I think that’s a better position for me. I’ve been trying too much to squat the weight up, and I think that’s why I’ve been losing heavy weights at the knee. It gets me out of favorable positioning.
I’m also still only weighing mid 180s, so assuming I can keep my walk-around weight around 190 or less, I should soon be hitting a 1400 total at 181 in a meet. I believe that would put me top 50 on powerliftingwatch for that weight class, and not far off an elite total.
Oh, and I did dumbbell ohp w/60’s for sets of 10, and pullups. and tricep rope extensions.
Squat PR.
405x2 465x1, 475x1 (PR)
Probably should have skipped the 465, it made the 475 that much more difficult.
Bench press 255 for some sets of reps.
I spent this entire weekend sick. I’m better now, but I essentially didn’t get out of bed for 2 days. Had exactly 2 meals during that time. Small meals. Tried to stay hydrated, but even that was tough. Fortunately I’m better today, appetite is back, and I’m not in the bathroom every 10 minutes. (TMI, I know).
bench pressed 2 days ago. worked up to 295x4, 325x1. Still pain free on bench. loving it. so much different than the last time I started moving weights over 315.
deadlifts last night. I attempted a 20lb pr at 565. got it just past the knees and then lost it. I totally thought I had it while I was pulling, and was genuinely surprised when I didn’t. Still happy with it though.
Squats 315 for 5 sets of 8.
It just occurred to me that a 565 DL would have been a 3x bw deadlift. Fuck.
heavy squats. worked up to 415x3, x2, x2, x2. Pretty hard work. I found my groove the best on the last set. A fast descent and a little extra depth seems to serve me well. Especially when I squat with a slightly higher bar position. The only bar available did not have knurling in the middle, and I don’t like to squat low bar without knurling against my back. Maybe I’m just weird, but it’s harder for me to get a stable bar position with the bar feeling like it can slip.
bench press for 4 sets of 10 at 185, 1 set of 5. Great pump. BB rows, 5x5 with 225. Had to hurry these, gym was closing.
Deadlift and OHP yesterday. Hadn’t done any ohp in a few weeks.
Deadlift up to 495, then backed off to 2 sets of 7 @425
Ohp w/ 115, 4 sets of 10, 1 set of 5.
bicep/tricep superset
facepulls with neutral grip wide bar.
Nice work in here. Sounds like your elbow and/or forearm pain is somewhat better too.
[quote]LoRez wrote:
Nice work in here. Sounds like your elbow and/or forearm pain is somewhat better too.[/quote]
Yea it’s much better. I think simply abandoning the OHP, at least for awhile, has been a good idea. If I ever want to be a decent strongman competitor, I’ll have to work on it again, but for now I don’t mind doing it infrequently, and with lighter weight for the most part.
Overall everything’s feeling pretty good right now, I’ve got nothing to complain about.
Bench press - 315 w/ a pause, no spot, no lift off. PR for that, lol. then 335 with a pause, but with a spot.
A couple sets of unweighted pull ups, then weighted pull ups with a 35lb db. I think I did 3 sets, of 10, 8, and 5.
squats - 365, 2 sets of 3, then 275 for 5x5. goal was to maintain good speed, avoid grinders. I initially intended to do more sets at 365, but the 3rd rep of the second set was too slow.
Well, probably gonna have to find a new place to deadlift. Or get creative at my current gym.
I was deadlifting last night, and tried 565 again. Got it past the knees, just couldn’t push my hips through. But I held onto the lift for at least 10 seconds trying to push through it, and I approached blackout. Ended up having to drop the weight. A manager immediately ran over and told me I can’t deadlift with regular plates. I told her there weren’t nearly enough bumper plates (500 lbs split between 3 bars) and she said too bad. I found this to be pretty sad, considering I lift at Gold’s Gym, and their logo is a guy deadlifting. THE IRONY. Building a home gym is not yet an option for me. But I may consider buying some extra plates and keeping them at Gold’s, with the intention of using them in my home gym in the future. I really don’t want to have to find another gym.
I moved on to OHP, worked up to a 205 singles, a couple reps at 185, 5 reps at 165, and 6 or 7 sets of 5 at 135.
Row machine for a few sets.
Band curls/extensions with my red band.
Weighing 187 post-workout.
You’re just getting too strong for your gym.
[quote]Ecchastang wrote:
You’re just getting too strong for your gym.[/quote]
I did just find a hardcore gym within 15 minutes of my house, and it’s only 30 bucks a month. Texas Gym. They’ve been around forever, and yet somehow don’t have a website. Will be checking it out this weekend. It looks like a dirty ass hole in the wall with a bunch of barbells. Should be perfect.
I lifted weights on Saturday.
Worked up to a 455 squat. My back was fried going into this workout, and I almost thought I was gonna fold over on this one, lol. But that being said, it went up pretty fast. Just had a hard time maintaining tightness.
Did 245 5x5 bench press. Then pull ups. Then some arm stuff.
[quote]flipcollar wrote:
A manager immediately ran over and told me I can’t deadlift with regular plates. I told her there weren’t nearly enough bumper plates (500 lbs split between 3 bars) and she said too bad. I found this to be pretty sad, considering I lift at Gold’s Gym, and their logo is a guy deadlifting. THE IRONY. Building a home gym is not yet an option for me. But I may consider buying some extra plates and keeping them at Gold’s, with the intention of using them in my home gym in the future. I really don’t want to have to find another gym.
[/quote]
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What’s the diameter of the bumpers like vs. the regular plates? If the bumpbers are greater than or equal to the size of the 45’s, could you put a big bumper on the inside, a few 45’s in the middle, and then a big bumper on the outside and get away with it? I don’t mean trying to trick the staff, I mean, if the bumpers hit the ground first, it basically negates the problem of using “regular” plates, right?
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While normally I side with the gym using a basic “It’s their right to conduct their business how they choose” argument (i.e. with any and all ridiculous behavior by Planet Fitness, I’m always just saying “if you don’t like PF’s approach, then join a different gym”), this kind of sucks. Planet Fitness is at least basically known as a place to avoid if you want to lift heavy, but (as a non-Gold’s Gym goer) I have always had the general impression that Gold’s was/is at least a semi-hardcore place, or one that is friendly to the heavy lifter.
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Related to point #2, I’ve never really understood the “You can’t deadlift with regular plates” argument. I guess it depends on the type of flooring, or maybe it’s driven by a misguided belief that dropping a bar with metal plates is somehow more of a distraction than dropping a bar with bumper plates, but considering that metal plates are used in PL competitions everywhere…I just don’t really understand “You can’t deadlift with metal plates” arguments.