Samul's Training and Nutrition Log

Training Training Logs
1409

That’s a good idea. I’ll do that next workout. I can clean 90 lbs for sure, I had to do that to train the press the other day.

I only tried barbell hack squat once eons ago. I don’t even remember how many years ago that was, I think I had just started training. I do remember the bar bumping into my lower leg at some point. I remember the exercise being very uncomfortable, not in a “this is hard” way but rather in a “this is awkward” way.

The good news is that my hamstrings are thrashed. It hurts to even just walk and it’s been two days since I did rdls. So I only need to nail one quad movement and I’ll be set for legs.

Other than that, I can do presses, chins, dips, pushups, barbell rows, curls, raises, and I’m working on getting a bench. So I think I’m in a relatively good spot.

1 Like
1410

Chins x 15, 11, 9
Meadows rows 3 sets
Heavy cheat curls 3 sets
Seated DB curls 3 sets

I wanted to try Meadow rows because my lower back is very sore and I wanted to try something different than the traditional barbell row. I couldn’t do them very well because the part of the barbell I was supposed to grab was way too large and my grip would give out after a few reps, so I did them gripping the barbell lower than were the plates were.

The movement was awkward, and honestly when it comes to rowing movements I can’t seem to figure out when I’m supposed to stop because I’ve reached failure. Unlike with pushing movements, where it’s clear when you can’t complete a rep, with rows you can always muscle up a bit of the range of motion. I went as far as I could with complete reps and then I did a few partials for each set, and it gave me a good lat pump. Different than with other rowing exercises.

Cheat curls (90 lb) were something I wasn’t used to doing. I was like, let’s put some weight and see what I can curl. The alternative was either the empty bar or 132 lbs, which I’m pretty sure I can’t safely curl.

The surprise was that, after these, my biceps felt more worked than with most other exercises. I thought I wasn’t going to feel them too much because, you know, you’re compensating with other muscles, but apparently I did them right and hit the biceps hard. I’ll be making these a staple for the time being and see if I can get from 6 reps per set to 10 with that weight.

2 Likes
1411

Press 40 kg x 4 x 8-12
Decline pushups 3 x 12-20
Dips 3 x 8-10
Lateral raises 3 sets
Band pushdown 2 sets

1412

Bb row 60 kg x 12,10, 80 kg x 8
Chins x 13, 8, 10
Cheat curl 40 kg x 5,6,5
Db curl 3 sets

overall, today sucked. I woke up earlier and got little sleep due to university-related anxieties. I felt sleepy and had to pause and take a 30-hour nap twice today because I felt I was shutting down from how tired I was.

What really killed my mood was the fact that my gut was feeling funny. I had some belly pain and I still do: I’ve had it all day, in the background. It got pretty annoying.

Long story short, I didn’t want to train. I felt weak, etc. I trained anyway, but let’s forget about today. My chins sucked, too. I got less than last time. My lats are always a little sore, these days, due to the fuck ton of them I do throughout the day. Hopefully this means that I’m subjecting my body to a novel stress and it’ll adapt, so I’ll stick with it. Maybe I’m not getting as many as I can in a single training set, but throughout the day I’m totaling a pretty high number of reps. I haven’t been counting them, I’ll do that tomorrow as a reality check.

Today I also chose to give in to comfort food. I decided that, as I’d get back from my walk after training tonight, I’d allow myself to have what I wanted. I figured I’ve been dieting for around 6 weeks so why the hell no. What I also knew, though, was that I had very little “diet unfriendly” food at home. So I ended up having a serving of pumpkin risotto, chicken with a fair amount of cheese, two crispy pancakes, a clementine, and before I go to sleep I’ll have porridge.

I’m craving some pasta with pesto right now, so I might have that tomorrow. Or before I go to sleep if I’m feeling savage. At lest my belly will be hurting for a reason.

I also figured that, either for the rest of this week or for next week, I might take a planned diet break where I raise calories to maintenance for 7 days. I think taking things slowly, now that I have already achieved a fair bit of fat loss (around 12 lb), might help me retain muscle and even just enjoy tasty food again while I’m leaning down. On top of that, there is no hurry, is there? After all, this summer it’s not even sure I’ll be able to go to the beach at all, so I’m in no rush to get shredded. My plan will be to lose fat and retain my gains for as long as this weird situation extends.

When gyms open, it’ll be time to attack full-on a mass gain phase.

1413

So, the past three days have been pretty rough. I have been in mild physical discomfort the whole time. It started with my dermatitis getting bad (whoever has suffered from this condition knows that periods of no symptoms alternate with others where it gets pretty annoying), so my hands were itching, then my head started itching, then my EYES started itching, and my right eye kept feeling like there was something stuck in it, I literally couldn’t move it or even keep it open, and I basically destroyed it to get that thing out. This happened twice over this time and each time lasted around an hour; an hour of pure hell.

Then my nose got extremely clogged, I had troubles breathing. I got some medicines for my eyes and nose and those got better, but the real killer has been something I haven’t mentioned yet: a tremendous gut pain that is only now slowly starting to let go of its grip, but that didn’t leave me alone a second for two days.

I don’t like to complain. It makes me feel like a pussy and does nothing to help me. But I had to say it: these past three days sucked. I was itching (and borderline bleeding from the scratching), having a stuffed nose, eyes burning and tearing up, mentally tired, and my stomach cramping.

I skipped a training session on the worst day (I made up today), and studying for my upcoming exams, which I’ll have in around 15 days, has been so hard. I’m almost good now, my stomach is still a little funny. I can’t wait to go back to functioning normally.

1414

Press 40 kg x 4 x 10
After these I tried to clean 60 kg (132 lb) because I am stuck with 40 kg for now, but I’ll have to go heavier someday, and with this setup I have to clean the weight first. I had to step forward to catch the bar, but I did manage to clean it
Decline pushups 3 sets (on last one, I dropped to normal pushups after hitting failure)
Dips 2 sets
Lateral raises 3 sets

So I’m getting a pretty bad lower back pain after sets of presses that I take to failure or almost to failure. I talked to @T3hPwnisher about this a long time ago: I remember you told me you get upper back pain, but not lower back. I get the opposite, and it’s pretty bad. Maybe I’m not bracing correctly? I got a video of one of my sets

I tried arching my upper back, squeezing my glutes to try and keep the back in a neutral position, but it still hurts in the same spot.

1 Like
1415

BB row 3 sets (60, 60, 80 kg)
Chins x 13, 8, 9 (frustrated about this)
Cheat curls 3 sets of 6
Seated db curls 3 sets (with various intensity techniques improvised, like seated to standing and two arms to one arm at a time)

Video of cheat curls

I thought I’d get a video of these to check whether I’m cheating too much–I don’t want to use only my back to curl the weight up. Honestly, I shouldn’t even be needing to cheat in order to curl this weight, I’m a little disappointed. But it is what it is.

Anyway, how do I look? I was kinda happy after seeing this video. I have been looking at myself in the mirror lately and thought I looked pretty small and not that lean either. Maybe it’s the angle in this video, but I’m actually quite happy with that look. I look better in that video than what I see every day in the mirror, IMO.

1416

Hey.

You.

Stop taking steroids.

4 Likes
1417

I should at least pare it down to “champion contestant” level, right?

2 Likes
1418

Keep it at whatever dosage is reasonable for an out-of-shape frat boy in the prime of his life.

1 Like
1419

Is deep water an appropriate dosage?

1 Like
1420

I’ll pass for now :joy:

2 Likes
1421

(besides correctly bracing being an obviously very important aspect)

Is your lower back pain on one side, or both? Do you have any shoulder mobility issues? For me, because my right shoulder is less mobile, my body “steals” mobility from the left side of my lower back, resulting in twinges there.

The back is the first place your body goes to for “mobility” when one has tightness issues in other body parts. My .02.

1422

It pretty much hurts all over, not one side specifically.

However, I tried squeezing my glutes harder, and bracing as hard as I could, and it went a little better. Not exceptionally well yet, though.

1423

Press 40 kg x 4 x 8-10
Decline pushups 3 sets
Dips 2 sets
Lateral raises 3 sets

1424

Bent over row 60 kg x 4 x 10-12
Chins x 11,7,8,8
Cheat curls 40 kg x 3 x 5
Seated DB curls 2 sets

1425

Take it for what it’s worth, I’m no expert, but it seems to me that mobility in your shoulders could easily be the culprit here.

@FlatsFarmer @Frank_C are both pretty smart at these things.

1 Like
1426

You’re definitely looking muscley. Keep up the good work!

I think you’re right about the bracing, there is room for improvement. During your presses you can almost see the bottom of your rib cage pointing out and away, vs tight and “locked” to your pelvis. Or your lower back is extended or over-arched instead of neutral.

Putting your arms overhead, like in a press can make it harder to keep a tight brace. If you’re into dumb ab/bracing drills you could try some Deadbugs to practice bracing, neutral spine with your arms overhead.

It also looks like maybe the bar is a little out in front of you, or too far away from you when you press and your having to lean back to balance. You touch the bar down on your chest, in front of your face. Maybe you could try lowering the bar to your clavicles, up under your chin. That way you wouldn’t have the bar dropping so low or so far out in front of your face and maybe that would let you stand up straighter. You’d just have to get used to moving your head out of the way of the barbell if you make that adjustment.

Dagill is right about shoulder mobility too, it’s common to extend low back and lean way back if the shoulders aren’t ready to handle the ROM for pressing.

1 Like
1427

I find I can feel presses more in my lower back when i press with a degree of anterior pelvic tilt. So my bracing with presses is different than with squats etc. Its less a focus on creating pressure (since who needs pressure for a 60kg press?), and more about trying to push a bit of posterior pelvic tilt. Squeezing your glutes will kind of do that, but for me I have a better result by focussing more on the tilt than the contraction.

Be aware, I’m as far from an expert as it’s possible to be, this is simply what I do, and in my n=1 experience I no longer get lower back issues from pressing.

It also occurs to me that @Koestrizer is a big pressor with some solid technical knowledge. He might be able to help you out

2 Likes
1428

I’ll tell you when I can at least press that :joy: