Left arm (elbow and shoulder) hurt. Felt acute pain in both joints during eccentric nadir on all exercises. Pushed through it. Found that focusing on ab and grip contractions (as in, doing them harder) makes it easier to get through that. Also, on days when this happens, do less sets with a one-second pause at the bottom, as the golgi-tendon-reflex mechanism blunts/eliminates the pain.
Spent some time today figuring out my macros for my upcoming cut. Looks like I’ll be getting 300g pro, around 3k total kncal, including 500kcal drink during workout where almost ALL my carbs will be imbibed. Escalation will be performed through the use of thermogenics, specifically HOT-ROX. I won’t really be adding cardio, though I might add some hill-walks for the GPP and because its a fun way to work my calves.
Front Squat: 205-275. 5 sets
Back Squat: 275-345. 6 sets
Deadlift: 345-405. 5 sets
Hill walks: Speed;3, Incline;10, Time;10 minutes
Extra set of squats because… I can. Have more energy and I’m kinda worried, since my overall volume stays the same, which was low to begin with, but the intensity is lower.
Overall mood remains high. Injuries low, and I feel like I’m always ready to train. Good stuff.
Coughing is probably related to the milk in the coffee that I usually drink a few hours before I lift. Lactate causing phlegm and inflammation and all that.
Hill walks are a bitch on my back, but afterwards, felt better. Knees felt better; I’ve been having this longstanding pain in them when I’m getting into and out of the car, and after walking on the treadmill that wasn’t there today.
Landmine Row: 115-160. 9 sets. Best at 150.
Pronated Pulldowns: 160-240. 11 sets, 3@230, 3@240.
Hammer Curls: 30-50. 9 sets. best at 45
Reverse Flyes: 2x10x45’s.
Ab rollout: 2x9x-
Weighed myself this morning. I am 289 lbs. Too much. It seems trying to limit my PWO meal hasn’t really been all that successful. More rigorous methods will be required.
I am really liking pulldowns. I don’t even know why.
Got food poisoning Sunday night. Think it was from some beef. Stomach has been… tweaked, lately. Like it takes a long time to digest food. More than it should. Appetite is down as well. Scary.
Felt weak as kitten on first exercise. SO WEAK. Partly because no PWO drink (didn’t think my stomach could handle it). Also because… just… been out of the gym for a few days, puking my guts up on Sunday and generally taking it easy the last few days. Warmed up by the 2nd exercise though, so thats good.
Front Squat: 205-275. 5 sets
Back Squat: 275-345. 6 sets
Deadlift: 345-405. 5 sets
Ab rollout: 2x9x-
Treadmill: speed: 2.7, incline: 10, time: 10 min
During back squat, tweaked groin. Felt like something lightly stab the inside of my right buttock when bending over. Insert gay joke
On BSquat, I feel like my top set is really 335. I just feel that its so light, but its always a struggle to get up 345. I hit a sticking point, and have to actually push through that. Though I do feel like I dominated the shit out of this particular 345.
Deadlifts felt beastly. In a good way. Were lots of fun.
Went to Metroflex gym earlier today. They have lots of awesome stuff, though not as many squat racks as I would have expected. But they’ve got GHR machines, and a bunch of tires to flip in the parking lot. My suspicion is there will be a prowler of sled of some kind, but I forgot to ask. There’s also cool arabic writing on the walls, an there was a dude deadlifting 500 for reps before pausing to go squat either 225 or 405, I couldn’t tell because I’m not used to 100 lb plates. Upshot of the deal, is it looks cool, and its close to where I work, so I’ll be picking up a membership in no time.
Military Press: 115-165. 8 sets
Bench Press: 185-265. 8 sets
1ArmRopedowns: 25-37.5. 8 sets
Ab Rollout: 2x9x-
Took two days because of gym closing early/strange times.
Tried changing my PWO meal to stir-fried chicken and vegetables. Need some Siracha sauce (rooster sauce). That shit tasted terrible. Left me feeling like a badass afterwards, however. Partly because it tasted so foul.
Everything felt super-fast and super-ON. Had a great workout.
Had a FINiBAR before workout. That’s the only thing I can think of that might have triggered the surge of energy. Either that, or I was just ON. Either way, it was a good workout, though pressed for time.
Front Squat: 205-275. 5 sets
Back Squat: 275-335. 6 sets
Deadlift: 345-405. 5 sets
Ab rollouts: 2x9x-
Treadmill{ Incline: 10 Speed:3 Time: 10 minutes}
Going by looks, my right leg is bigger than my left. Trying to fix this with mind-muscle connection on bilateral movements, rather than throwing in some unilateral work for my Left leg.
Starting the cut. Lack of food, and the ability to eat food make me sad. Plus I just moved into a new place, and some of my things are still in the old and everything. Everything just feels a bit spotty right now.
Bench Press was with regular, thin bar. I like the thick bars more- they’re more full to grip.
Ropedowns felt really good. Increase was not ego, was lifting it and felt potentiating, like after each set I just fucked Marilyn Monroe without a condom on and just wanted to scream it at the dude next to me, because that sort of thing is really important, you know?
Wendler’s article today makes sense. A good workout should involve mobility training, strength training, and conditioning. I’ve sorely let lack my conditioning, and I’m paying for it now, curiously with strength workouts. Mostly, I expect the fat to come off through diet. I’ve never really involved mobility work into my workouts, but I should, and I can plainly see that. Will think on this- I would like to do it, but I don’t actually want to make my workouts longer than they already are.
Really wasn’t feeling the pronated pulldowns. Usually I love that exercise, but today I just wasn’t feeling explosive enough on it, so I did what I could, didn’t move up in weight until I thought I could dominate an increase in weight, and after 230, didn’t feel I could do more well, so I just stopped.
Front Squat: 225-285. 5 sets
Back Squat: 285-345. 6 sets
Deadlift: 345-415. 5 sets
Felt a little peppy, upped my weights by 10 lbs and DOMINATED. Good workout. Too little time for abs and reverse flyes
Experimenting with Regular Flyes. I would like to bring up my upper chest, but flyes hurt my shoulders, and I’m not sold on just incline benching. When I flye heavy, my shoulder hurts in the front. If I go light and do controlled eccentrics (AND concentrics, explosive hurts shoulder) I can perform the exercise without pain. I just don’t know if its worth it.
Feel like left side is noticeably less strong than the right. I’m getting the bar up evenly, or so it looks, but my right side feels like its feeling comparatively more of the stress. To combat this, I’m focusing on my mind-muscle connection when I lift, and specifically when I do the eccentric, because I’m less results-focused at that point during the lift.
Probably the most curious part of dieting is the liberating sense of emptiness. Gone are the ravages of feeling glutted every two or three hours, waking up with my stomach still digesting the 3000 calories from the night before’s post-workout meal. On a normal day, I deal with a fair volume of hunger, usually in the evening, which leads to a sense of tiredness earlier in the day than usual (I get tired at around 6pm, when I go to bed at 11-midnight. In between the two, I go workout, which counteracts the sleepiness until the later time). But on Saturdays, I wake up late, around 10am (instead of around 7), and eat a bigger breakfast. The combination of the two stave off hunger until around… now.
I guess the point is that walking around with only breakfast under my belt, feeling well-rested and not needing or wanting to eat, is a new experience. I intend to enjoy it while it lasts, because usually by the last few weeks, while the habits and discipline are down pat, I don’t feel this serene. Usually I’ll just feel shit.
Actually, this is my evening meal most days: 1 pound of chicken, sliced and pan fried in a healthy oil (usually EVOO, though I’m trying to get some coconut butter), and then I throw on a bag of frozen veggies and a lid for the pan and VIOLA! Topped with Siracha (rooster) sauce and eaten with delight.
(In this version there are peanuts. Usually not, but I wasn’t hungry during midday, so I just added on some peanuts for the extra calories).
Front Squat: 225-285. 5 sets
Back Squat: 285-345. 6 sets
Deadlift: 345-405. 5 sets
Treadmill {Speed:2.5 Incline:10 Time:10min}
Sometimes I wonder if I’ll be able to even maintain much less progress my lower body lifts because I’m consistently lifting UP TO ~80%, and very rarely above that. That this is the kinda/sorta recommendation of CT gives me serenity, but… like today, 405 wasn’t a struggle, but it wasn’t TOP ROCK, you know? It was a good set, I got into it, focused, felt like roaring-like-beast afterwards (and might actually have), but if I was going to continue to go up in weight, I’d have hit 405 again to get more speed.
Basically, I wonder how I used to feel like I was DOMINATING weights up to 10% more than I’m doing right now.
Good workout. Higher numbers these last few days is because I’ve been frequenting new gyms (moved apartments) and the ones near me don’t have thick bars I prefer the thicker ones, even though I can’t use as many plates, because they’re easier to squeeze when pressing, and I hear they’re easier on the elbows, somehow.
Really feeling the Ropedowns. Always get the rageface afterwards
Football is my steroids. People don’t walk up to me and be like ‘yo man, you must be on the juice. Can your connection connect me?’ Instead, people are like ‘You must play football’. Today, a young gentleman by the name of Tim suggested I played in college. Elsewhere, a Howard thought I might be trying to walk on for the Texans. Having seen the Texans play, I’m no longer sure I couldn’t.
I fucking love reverse flyes. They’re like the abused girlfriend who knows you don’t love her but can’t seem to quit you anyways. I pay them only a couple of sets attention, maybe once or twice or three times a week, and they just keep getting stronger. Its like they feed off the fact that I’m not caring about them. If only the rest of my muscles grew like that.
FWIW, the rest of my muscles DO NOT grow like that. I’ve tried.
I prefer the thicker ones, even though I can’t use as many plates, because they’re easier to squeeze when pressing, and I hear they’re easier on the elbows, somehow.