Seems like I was right about the feeling I had destroyed something in my legs…
I woke up today and the lateral part of my left leg, right behind and under the knee, hurts like hell every time I move my leg. It almost feels like I pulled a tendon. I don’t feel pain if I flex my hamstring without movement at the knee, but as soon as I extend my leg the pain kicks in. It doesn’t feel like normal DOMS.
On a scale to 10, this is an 8. I hope it will go away before Monday’s Deadlift session.
Are you okay? Your life seems to be a shitstorm lately
Sorry for the late reply and thank you for the interest. Yeah, I had some issues as of lately, but in the grand scheme of things I could say that my life is awesome. One thing I’ve tried to practice recently is to remind myself of something that I’m grateful for every time I have one of those minor issues.
I hurt myself in the gym? Well I am lucky enough to have the possibility to train. I get borderline food poisoning from a pizza a spend a week with diarrhea? Big deal, lots of people don’t even have anything to eat. I feel down because I am having difficulties with university? You guessed it–I’m grateful that I get to study.
Getting out of the negative mindset I have always had is a big step, and despite this might sound like some zen shit, I actually feel it can have a big impact on one’s life.
Also, yesterday I found out that I got 30/30 (idk how grades work in the US but here in university 30 is the maximum score) in the last Logic test we did. It was just a mid term test (or whatever they are called) and I thought the topics were pretty easy, but I’m happy with my result. It looks like only 13 people out of 200+ got that score, so I’m definitely not gonna complain.
AM: Main work and supplemental
Deadlift
110 kg x 3
125 kg x 3
142 kg x 12
110 kg x 15
PM: assistance
UH pulldown 60 kg x 13, 8
Cable row 65 kg x 12, 55 kg x 11
Cable Pullover 2 sets of 12-15
Rear delt 2 sets
So today I did my very first “2 a day.” I was forced to do so because I had to catch a train to go to my dorm and I realized too late that it was due an hour earlier than what I had planned for. I barely had the time to do my two working sets of deadlifts, which I HAD to do before hopping onto the train because the gym at my dorm sucks and it’s impossible to do them properly there (small plates, no platforms to lift them up, not enough room).
So I managed to get my main work and supplemental in at around 11am and then I did my assistance work in the dorm’s gym around 7pm.
The pr set absolutely crushed me and was one of the best sets I’ve ever done in terms of how hard I managed to push it.
Press
38.5 kg x 3
44 kg x 3
50 kg x 7
38.5 kg x 15
Plate front raise 2 sets (20 kg, 10 kg)
Lateral raise 3 sets
Rope pushdown 3 sets
Pjr pullover 2 sets
Squat
87.5 kg x 3
100 kg x 3
112 kg x 14
87.5 kg x 20
Leg curl 3 sets
Once again a brutal workout. Had serious issues walking both up and down the stairs afterwards.
Bench
62 kg x 3
72 kg x 3
80 kg x 12
62 kg x 19
Chest Press Machine 3 sets
Low to high cable fly 2 sets
Db curls 3 sets
Incline curl 2 sets
The inner OCD in me kicked in as I realized I was getting only 19 reps on my Windowmaker set on this workout. Unfortunately, the 18th rep was iffy and grindy, and the 19th straight up had me lose my position as my shoulder drifted out to the side and my elbow flared excessively to compensate and complete the rep. One more attempt would have been too dangerous. I’m still happy because I gave it my all and this is what matters if we are after progress and especially muscle growth.
Deadlift
118 kg x 5
132 kg x 3
150 kg x 13
118 kg x 20
UH lat pulldown 3 sets (honestly lost count of reps)
Cable row 65 kg x 12, 60 kg x 11
Straight arm pushdown 2 sets
Rear delt 2 sets
PR set
Press
42 kg x 5
46 kg x 3
52 kg x 10
42 kg x 14
Plate front raise 2 sets
Lateral raises 3 sets
Rope pushdown 3 sets
Pjr pullover 2 sets
Bad news for my press. I’m not satisfied with my reps on both the pr sets and the Windowmaker sets. I’ll be keeping the TM the same on this lift for the next cycle. It’s not a big deal, we are after rep pr’s in this training block so lots of progress can be made without necessarily increasing the weight. I want to make sure that next time I hit 52 kg / 115 lb I can rep it for 11-12 solid reps.
Also, I have been having difficulties isolating my delts on assistance. Both full range plate raises and lateral raises smoke my traps but feel like they leave my front and middle delts understimulated. It’s already happened in the past and it went away on its own. I might have to play around with the exercise selection or use lighter weights and stricter form.
One exercise that I really felt in my middle delts was the cable y raise, so I will probably add it in with next cycle. I am not sure about dropping regular lateral raises altogether though, but maybe it doesn’t really make a big difference.
Bodyweight is up to 82.5 kg / 182 lb. This is around the highest I’ve ever been but I feel like I am leaner than I was last year at around this weight. I plan to reach 85 kg / 188 lb in the next few months. I’ll give myself time until mid March to keep gaining mass. At that point, I will have been on a mass gain phase for around 9 months, at which point I’ll probably need to get rid of some fat. This time I can really do things properly and cut over 3-4 months, taking pauses if necessary (diet cycling) and retaining as much muscle and strength as possible.
Squat
92 kg x 5
106 kg x 3
118 kg x 13
92 kg x 20
Leg Curl 3 sets
So, some months ago I had done 118 kg / 260 lb x 10 on the squat. That was my highest pr for reps. That number stuck with me because I posted a video here and I was happy with the set. After a while I started doing BBB and had to work with lower percentages so I kinda never got back to that number.
Today I realized my heaviest set was gonna be 260 lb, so I knew I HAD to do more than 10 reps. I pushed this set incredibly hard, with the last two reps being pretty grindy and knowing that one more rep would have been unsafe.
Had to lie on the ground for a while. Then I did my Windowmaker set and had to lie down some more. Bottom line: I best my previous pr by 3 reps!
Granted, it’s been like 6 months so maybe a 3 rep increase isn’t the best rate of progress, but it’s still progress. It was a scary weight for me and I beat it.
Now could anybody lend me a wheelchair for when I’ll get out of bed tomorrow?
Bench
66 kg x 5
75 kg x 3
84 kg x 10 (a little help by the spotter on the last rep as I got stuck at mid range for 2 seconds)
66 kg x 16
Chest Press 2 sets
Low to high cable fly 2 sets
Db curl 3 sets
Incline db curl 2 sets
Deadlift
105 kg x 5
122 kg x 5
137 kg x 6 (strapless)
105 kg x 20
Lat pulldown 3 sets
Low row machine 2 sets
One arm pulldown 2 sets
Rear delt raise 3 sets
So a guy over at Wendler’s private forums suggested I do some Deadlift pr sets strapless too. He told me it’s okay if I use straps for my heavier work, but that I should have a strapless pr set to compare to my sets with straps. Grip is obviously the limiting factor with a Deadlift, so I thought I’d give this a try on my 5’s week, which I currently am in.
I ended up getting 6 reps because the bar slowly started slipping out of my hands after the fourth and after just a while I was unable to hold it anymore. This is kind of a reality check, as I am positive I could have gotten around 16-18 reps with that weight.
I need to get my grip stronger. I’m just not sure how I can do that without having anything else suffer. Direct grip work maybe?
Given that you’re running lighter backoff sets anyway, I’d go for @T3hPwnisher’s method of pulling a light double overhand single and holding it for time. Go for something like 30-60s and increase the weight when you can do the full minute.
Press
36 kg x 5
42 kg x 5
47 kg x 13
36 kg x 18
Front plate raises 2 sets
Cable Y raises 2 sets
Seated Lateral raises 2 sets
Rope pushdown 3 sets
Overhead Rope extension 2 sets
The direct grip training will absolutely help. But if you’re going to keep pushing the deadlift, then even if you’re just going for a heavy single you’re going to have to find a different grip than double overhand eventually. You’ll have to learn how to hook grip or do a mixed grip. A hook grip is preferable, IMO, but eventually double overhand will fail you if you go heavy enough.
Unless, of course, you’re okay with your heavy singles being strapped. Which is perfectly fine. Just letting you know, double overhand is the weakest grip you can use. I think it’s super important to train it and make sure you can hold heavy weights double overhand, though.
I actually am, as long as that doesn’t have a negative impact on my muscle and strength gains. And for that not to happen, I need to make up for using straps with some grip/forearm work I think.
The issue isn’t using straps per se, I don’t mind; I’d much rather use straps than a mixed grip or hook grip, but I don’t want anything to lag behind. So I’ll need to do some form of forearm training.
Squat
84.5 kg x 5
97.5 kg x 5
112 kg x 16
84.5 kg x 20
[collapsed on the floor for a few minutes]
Standing leg curl 2 sets
This session sucked. I mean, performance wise it was a win as I beat my previous pr by 2 reps, but aside from that, the way I felt sucked even worse than it usually does on squat day.
My legs were extremely hurting, my lungs were on fire, and I felt like vomiting. The latter is probably due to the new protein powder that I bought and which is causing a lot of issues as every time I eat it I feel nauseous, and it had an impact even though I had my meal almost two hours before training.
I thought I’d save some money buying milk protein instead of whey but it’s awful. I’m never doing this again.
Disgusting.
Bench
62 kg x 5
68 kg x 5
77 kg x 14
62 kg x 19
Chest Press 2 sets
Low to high cable fly 2 sets
Hammer curl 3 sets
Incline curl 2 sets
Deadlift
112 kg x 3
129 kg x 3
145 kg x 15
112 kg x 15
Back work