8/10
Felt like a someone had assaulted me with a bag full of hammers in my sleep yesterday. Energy was low, motivation was down, but I got a message that changed all of that in a few seconds. Not a good one mind you, but it did the trick and gave me some fuel for the rest of the session. 200k didn’t feel easy but 210 felt way way better. Same with CG bench, one side of my shoulder blades felt a bit tight so I stayed in the lower end for most of the sets, but 120k felt the easiest and is nearing a CG PR for me. Today could have been a 6.5-7/10 but I was able to milk it for a bit more.
1a. Incline EZ Bar Extensions [Moderate Incline]: 80x20, 100x15, 70x25
2a. Rope Pressdowns: 80x10x2 sets
3a. Overhead Rope Pressdowns: 70x10x3 sets
4a. DB Hammer Curls: 25x8/s, 50x8/s, 60x8/s x4 sets
5a. Single Arm DB Preacher Curls [High Incline]: 30x10x2 sets
5b. Single Arm Band Curl [Top Half of ROM]: Mini x20/s x2 sets
8/10
Kept it stupid simple today, was running low on both time and patience. This all took about 25 minutes. EZ extensions were bothering my elbows, so in hindsight probably not the best movement to start with (even if high rep). I always perform best on BB stuff with some blood in the muscle, not surprisingly the 2nd set felt much smoother.
8.5/10
Had a bit of a busy week and wasn’t really sure how today would go after some shinanighans on Thursday night. Couldn’t really have went much better [in retrospect]. Squats felt heavy up until 210k, then started moving a bit better. Technique was what I’d call ‘way off’, though not surprisingly, but I was happy to get four sets over 485…235k can wait. Boards and block DL’s moved well, and I was able to get a PR on the latter as planned.
7/10
This week was a planned deload week with three easy sessions and hopefully some BB style assistance, however, first real week back to school and a bit of a flu bug Monday threw me off. That said, the timing couldn’t have been better…would have felt very guilty missing some 3-5 intensity or volume range stuff. Didn’t have a chance (lame excuse) to do any movement quality stuff this week and it showed; mind wasn’t anywhere near the gym. Saturday was a nightmare in that aspect, my body moved like a hinge covered in rust. Prescribed brackets were only 60-65% for raw squats and 50% deadlifts, pushed the bench a bit and added a tiny bit of volume as it moved a bit better than I had expected.
1a. Incline DB Bench Press [Moderate Incline, Supinated at Peak]: 40x8, 65x8, 85x8, 90x8x3 sets
1b. Lat PNF: 3(5)x3 sets
2a. Pec Minor Dips: BWx20x3 sets
3a. Incline DB Flyes [Low Incline, Against Mini Band]: 25x12, 30x12x3 sets
4a. Hammer Strength Incline Press [3/4 Reps]: 1pps x30x2 sets
7.5/10
Could easily have fallen asleep standing prior to starting this short session but willed myself into training (somehow). Work capacity was shit but was somehow able to force out a decent session. Pecs felt a bit weaker than usual but acceptable given the amount of sleep I was running on. Felt good to get a session in regardless. A moderately heavy SBD session tomorrow AM.
8/10
First challenging day in almost two weeks, was deloading, sick and finally mustered up enough energy to get in for a SBD session today. Energy was decent but work capacity was almost nonexistent. Forced myself to work near the upper edge of the prescribed intensity bracket for this week, went over on squats, and did three sets right on the top for BP. Movement quality is better than last week but still not where it was, still giving today an 8 as I was able to buckle down and get everything done at a fairly high intensity.
8/10
Took awhile to feel properly warmed-up but once I got moving bench started feeling great. 303x4 is probably an all time PR, and I don’t think benching 335-345 would be out of the question at this point. Just need to continue to bring up the triceps/shoulders/upper chest and will keep moving.
Speed DL’s moved very quick, getting anxious to move some real weights beginning next week.
7.5/10
Went into this session feeling like absolute garbage, was head bobbing in class before hand and hips felt like they were tied in knots. Somehow around the 497 mark on squats I started moving better and started to realized I’d actually make it through. First squat day with a belt or wraps on since April, they didn’t feel that bad but it took a few sets to feel in the groove again and my nose started bleeding mid set at 230…but such is life; at least I was bracing properly and it scared all the idiots out of our training area.
Sets are 497x3, 507x3, 518x3, 519x3, all with belt and loose wraps. Wasn’t happy with bar speed or depth, but it’s a start, been about 4 months since I’ve worn any equipment.
7/10
Cold has caught up with me again, just can’t seem to get a good night of sleep and recoverability is low. That said it feels good to be able to come in and rhyme off a set of squats on two breaths with a weight that was 80% not to long ago, 185 can’t be more than 65-67% now. Endurance started to disappear midway through today’s session (felt like a marathon), benches felt pretty routine but the quad assistance at the end had me cold sweating and broken down. Doesn’t matter how I’m feeling over the next few weeks, today showed that my single-leg work really needs to be a focus over the next 8 weeks. Tough day, but glad I found a way through.
7.5/10
Was supposed to meet the guys at 11am but slept right through the alarm, so I rushed in within 2 minutes of getting out of bed. Rushed the warm-up and it should have been no surprise when the back didn’t feel awake for deadlifts; figured it best not to push it and stopped after 1 of 3 work sets. I start heavy pulls from the floor next week, curious to see where I stand on those. Bench actually felt great, I think I could probably hit 400 off a 2 board or about 350 +/- to chest; big improvement there. Feel like I’m getting over this flu, so next week should see me training 5x for the first time in what seems like forever.
8/10
Started off in a bit of a haze and took awhile to get going, started a new pre/peri/post training nutrition protcol to get down to a training weight closer to my 93kg weight class cutoff. Carbs are lower in the AM and early afternoon, also taking in a lot of water before and during my training period. Squats felt pretty good with very little knee discomfort and hip mobility seems to be improving again. Conditioning still leaves something to be desired but should improve over the next 3-4 weeks.
1a. Bench Press [Medium Grip]: 70x5, 90x3, 105x2, 120/265x1, 135/297x3, 140/309x3x3 sets
1b. Side to Side Pull-Ups [Wide Neutral Grip]: x5x5 sets (25)
2a. Bench Press [Close Grip]: 102.5/226x15x2 sets
3a. Pull-Ups [Wide Neutral Grip] x10x3 sets (30)
3b. Push-Ups [Close Grip, Against Average Band]: x10x3 sets (30)
8.5/10
Opted to try a bench press only day today, consensus…a day without squats just isn’t the same. Press’ moved smooth, regret not going for 140k on the first set, was also happy with how easy the impromptu CG 15’s felt. Heavy B/W squats tomorrow, yee haa.
