Glad to hear the squats can continue. You could’ve just tweaked it some weird way or something. Actually my left one bugged me the last workout with single leg deadlifts, don’t know, but I think I was leaning into the outer hip too much, normally I roll inwards with my foot/ankle.
Training at a high percentage, say over 95% of your max, can lead to a loss in strength if done too often according to some yahoo named Simmons. But don’t take my word for it, although I’ve found this true for me too, just a suggestion to vary your days.
LOL GV that was hilarious.
Maybe incorporate some dead benches and floor presses to help get that three wheel bench!
Thanks Minimal, it’s been an on and off again nagging thing. I felt it last night, but it wasn’t a limiting factor. Single leg deads scare me. I’d spend more time trying to balance rather than lift 
Good call GV. I recall seeing Louie mention it in an article. I was feeling a bit frisky when I went for it. I’ll be sure to get several sessions in before going after 315 again. Thanks for the heads up!
Yeah for sure Matty. I need to add some more chest work and mix it up a bit. I haven’t done any floor presses in a while, so I’ll definitely mix them back in.
Not getting much sleep in past two weeks, so my energy is sucking. My weight was down to 187 yesterday, which the drop would be great if my performance wasn’t suffering. Thinking about increasing the daily calories a bit, until I can get back to regular sleep.
7/17/2013
Warmup: Jump rope and static squats
Squats
Weight Reps
135 x 12
155 x 8
225 x 6
275 x 2
225 x 12
225 x 12
225 x 10
225 x 7
135 x 10
135 x 10
135 x 10
Total reps 99 and finished with lower weights… suck ass
Partial deads starting just below knees:
225 x10, x5, x5, x5
Leg curls:
60 x 10, 3 sets, super set with hip thrusters 65x20, 3 sets
Leg extensions:
70 x 15
95 x 12
120 x 12
140 x 13
7/18/2013
Warm ups : Jump rope and pull ups x BW: x 15 x10 x10 x9 x6
Deads
135 x 6
225 x 10
225 x 8
225 x 9
SG Deads
135 x 10, 2 sets
Bench press
135 x 10
205 x 8
255 x 3
225 x 8
225 x 8
WG BP
135 x 10, 2 sets
BO row
95 x 12
135 x 10, 2 sets
Meadows Row
75 x 6
50 x 10
50 x 12
Shurgs
205 x 12, x10, x10, x8
Super set w/ Rear fly
20 x 15, 3 sets
Deads felt good. Had a bit of rounding I’m sure in the last few reps on last couple of sets. All in all though, had fun lifting tonight.
Nice work especially on the shurgs. I bet your bench will jump up in no time.
I absolutely love the shrug / rear delt Superset
Thanks GV. I’m scared that it’s actually going to pass my squats. This abductor thing is driving me up a wall.
Ya, I totally agree Matty. My shoulders are still feeling nice and tight today. BTW, my knees are starting to feel really good. I’ve been doing some statics just at random throughout the days and I think that’s helping a lot. Thanks again for that suggestion.
7/19/2013
Warmup: Jump rope, static squats and some pull ups at body weight x15, x10, x10, x10
Squats
135 x 7
205 x 5
255 x 3
305 x 2 and 1/2 - Fucking abductors started raging again. I got half way down on the third and it felt like the fuckers were going to rip off my leg. I just stopped and went back up. I’ve been using a medium stance, just outside of shoulder width, so I thought I’d try closer to Olympic and see how that works. The strain was a little more tolerable. So, after some additional stretching and massaging, I resumed with lower weight.
225 x 6
205 x 10, x6, x8
Front Squats
185 x5, x5, x6
Really can’t wait until this abductor thing is in the past.
Leg curls
60 x 8, x10, x8, x5
Leg extensions
worked up to 130 x 15, x13
Chins at body weight: x12, x10, x10
Have you tried rolling the abductor area with a foam roller for a minute before beginning the lifting. Many times I will roll the abductor area, quads, and the lliotibial band from the hip to the knee, which really warms up and prepares your legs for work. This kind of mobility work is essential to me in having mobility, staying strong, and having less pain. I also concentrate rolling in the psoas area before squatting and after many times.
405 is just a number you will pass and laugh at for warm-up squats one day.
Just read this page of your log and I’m sore. Holy volume, Batman. Congrats on the 300 bench.
Actually GV, I have been doing most of my rolling in the morning and post workout. I’ve been just stretching before lifting, but I’ll start doing it pre workout and hit the areas you’ve mentioned. Also, thanks for the vote of confidence on the numbers. I just need to be patient, which is something I suck at
Thanks Hel! I wasn’t expecting to get anywhere near 300 on my bench this year, so it was a pretty happy moment for me.
7/20/2013
Warm ups: short run, jump rope and pull ups. Pullups @ BW - x12 x11 x10
OH Press
95 x 10
135 x 10
155 x 5
135 x 8
BB OH extension
65 x 15, three sets
Rotating DB curls, super set with DB tri extensions
Hammer curls superset with tri pushdown
Left abductor is the reason I only do push-pulls instead of full meets. I will be following to see if you come up with something that works. I haven’t since my abductor tore and a hernia went at the same time many years ago.
I admire your perseverance.
Quick tip here: I found that if I warm up with overhead squats with just the bar and doing many sets of 2 reps I can get the abductors loose and ready for heavy back sqautting.
And if I am loose on the first or second set it is going to be a good day!!!
Wow Dave, I wasn’t aware of that. I couldn’t imagine this plus a hernia. I’ve never experienced a hernia, but I’ve heard from many first hand accounts about how tremendously painful they are.
I’ve been reading a bit on rehabbing the muscle and it looks like a lot of people endure the injury for years. While in lower grades, the injury’s best rehab is rest, a grade 3 appears to require medical treatment. In my case, I think the injury is only a grade 1, though I experienced some symptoms of a grade 2. I feel the “spiking” pain during squatting and I do have minimal bruising in the area.
Though, I can run with only minimally feeling it, but I can also feel it a little while walking. Depending on how I feel after stretching, rolling and warmups, I may try a few light squats tonight.
Thanks for the suggestion Ric. I’ll definitely give that a shot. I would imagine it’s probably a natural progression, following static squats anyway. This will probably be a great help in loosening up the knees as well.
7/22/2013 Lifts
Warmups: Jump rope, DB swings and pull ups: @ bw 16x, x12, x12, x10
Bench
135 x 8 paused
185 x 8 paused
225 x 5 paused
255 x 3 paused
225 x 9, x10
205 x 10, x10
Bench was good. I didn’t feel particularly strong, but my reps were very controlled. I pushed to failure on the last two 225 sets, failing to reach reps 10 and 11. I can feel a good tightness in my chest, shoulders and tris today and I feel like this is related. It’s not something I hear about often, but does anyone have any thoughts on benching to failure in high volume sets?
WG Incline
135 x 10, x10, x10
superset with ab wheel roll outs
x12, x6, x8, x10
Nose breakers
70 x 8, x10, x9
superset with standing band crunches
Tri pushdown
80 x 12, x15, 11
7/23/2013
Warmup consisted of jump rope, static squats, db swings, overhead squats. Went through a ton of stretching and rolling this a.m., before and after lifting.
Squats
135 x 8
155 x 6
205 x 5
255 x 3
290 x 1
205 x 10
205 x 9
205 x 8
225 x 5
135 x 12, x12, x13
RDL
135 x 10, x8, x10
superset with Leg Curls
70 x 10 for 3 sets
Leg extensions
50 x 20, 85 x 15, 120 x 13, 145 x 10, 85 x 16
The abductor was hurting, but not quite as bad as last session. Went with lower weights than I’d like tonight and still had to pull back the reps. I kept all the reps slow and very controlled using a fairly narrow stance, as this seems to keep the pain at a minimum. While this whole thing with the pull is frustrating, it felt like I was taking a step forward tonight.
Seems like the narrow stance really has its benefits in training when there is an injury. I know the narrow stance has been helping me recover with my hammy. Could be the narrow stance emphasizes the quads more during the squat so that diminishes the stress on other muscle activation. This is good because the movement is still there and the associated injured muscle gets work while not being traumatized.
Yeah GV, I’d agree with that assessment, especially from what I’ve been experiencing. As I bring in my stance, I notice a lot more balance and pressure throughout my feet, rather than all the weight being on the heels. Which, I think I may have been subconsciously overcompensating the weight through the back of my legs in order to avoid re-injuring my knee. In the long run, this little annoyance may help my squat.
7/24/2013
9th Anniversary tonight. I didn’t get home until almost 8 and my wife had a soccer game until 8:30. So, I had just enough time to run a couple of miles and do some ab work. While I can feel my abductors during these short runs, it’s not much of an annoyance if at all. It did tighten up a little, along with the rest of my legs shortly afterwards. However, I did some stretching immediately after noticing the tightening and everything seems good now. We’ll see how it feels when I roll out of bed tomorrow.
9/25/2013
Ran just under 2.5 miles.
Pull ups @ BW x18, x16, x12, x10, x8
Deads
135 x 10
185 x 5
225 x 10
225 x 9
225 x 10
RDL
155 x 10, 3 sets
Shrugs
205 x 12
205 x 10
205 x 16
Superset with reverse flies.
Congrats on making 9 years!
Lifting is looking good and solid