TnT's Forward Momentum!

Training Training Logs
481

9/8/19, Sunday

Hip-hip hooray, it’s squat day!

Warm-up
Hip swings, stretching

Squats
45 x 15
95 x 10
115 x 3
130 x 3
145 x 3
160 x 3
175 x 3
190 x 3
205 x 3
220 x 3
185 x 3 - ouch, stopped with hip pain
155 x 10 - better

The area just above my rear left hip (SI joint?) gets to hurting; it’s a sign my left leg is taking more than its share of weight because my right foot orthotic has compressed and needs replaced. I also need to learn about lumbar and iliac crest health - @FlatsFarmer! Help!

RDLs / single leg calf raise
160 x 6 / 25 x 10
180 x 6 / 25 x 10
200 x 6 / 25 x 10
220 x 6 / 25 x 10

482

9/10/19, Tuesday

Inclined to press day

Warm-up
Laterals, OHP, tri ext, curls x 8 lbs x 15
BPAs - 2x red x 4 x 20

Incline DB press
53 x 10
63 x 10
68 x 8
73 x 12
73 x 10

I’m still liking the change from flat press. My shoulders feel good, and the three upper body presses I’m doing complement each other.

DB rows
73 x 8
78 x 8
83 x 8
88 x 8
88 x 8
On a quest to NOT do towel pullups. Because they suck. DB rows, on the other hand, felt good and cause less lower-back stress than bar rows. I’ll take it.

Lateral raises / DB curls
25 x 9 / 30 x 14
25 x 9 / 30 x 14
25 x 9 / 30 x 14

Single triceps extensions
30 lbs x 42 / arm (350 method)

483

Took off all but two days last week. Lame. It’s been raining here, and I just don’t like lifting in the rain. Excuses are never-ending.

9/16/19, Monday

Lower body, Planet Fitness style

Warm-up
5 minutes treadmill; forwards, sideways each side, backwards, 5.0 incline.

  • These light up the glute medius and hip flexors.

Leg press (plate weight only)
140 x 15
230 x 15
320 x 15
410 x 12

Seated leg curls / leg extensions
115 x 10 / 115 x 10
130 x 10 / 115 x 10
130 x 10 / 115 x 10
All curls done with a 4-second negative. My legs were pumped and gassed!

Single leg calf press
55 x 15
55 x 15
55 x 15

Single leg donkey kicks
85 x 12
85 x 12

Goblet squats / DB RDLs
60 x 15 / 75 x 12
60 x 15 / 75 x 15
60 x 15 / 75 x 15

Flutter kicks x 150
Russian twists - 8lb ball x 50/side

Step mill - 5 minutes
Elliptical - 10 minutes

484

9/17/19, Tuesday

Upper body at Planet Fitness

Incline chest press machine
75 x 10
85 x 10
95 x 7, 75 x 5
I love the range of motion on this machine. The weights nearly correspond to incline DB press weights; the top set of 95 was about what I’d do with 80-lb DBs.

Seated row machine, low supinated grip
70 x 10
80 x 10
90 x 8, 70 x 6

Standing DB OHP
45 x 8
50 x 8
55 x 8

Pulldowns
140 x 10
160 x 7
170 x 4, 160 x 3, 120 x 6
I’ve gotten really weak at vertical pulls. Only one way to fix that.

Single arm triceps pressdowns
30 x 12
30 x 13
30 x 12

DB curls
35 x 10
35 x 10
35 x 8

Low pulley cable pec flyes / dips
22.5 x 8 / bw x 6
17.5 x 8 / bw x 6
17.5 x 12 / bw x 7
The pulleys on this deck were the weirdest I’ve ever felt. Their resistance seemed to match dumbbells twice the weight. No matter, I’m here to pump up the volume. The pec volume. And before I forget, I was pleasantly surprised with how good the dips felt on my shoulders.

Push-ups - bw x 30
Pull-ups - bw x 5

Hanging leg raises - 3 sets of 8

10 minutes non-stop chest passing an 8lb medicine ball between myself, my nephew, and his friend.

Treadmill
21:00, 1.58 miles, 2:1 walk-run

Nothing pushes me like working out with my nieces and nephew, all of whom are teenagers to early 20s and in shape!

1 Like
485

In this video Jeff talks about the QL muscle, between your illiac Crest and SI joint. He mentions that is one hip is “hiked up” or held higher than the other when you sleep it can make that muscle tight. I imagine the same thing could happen if you were using one leg more. Anyway, between 3:00 and 5:00 minutes dude shows how to use a ball to put pressure on the muscle then work your leg back and forth to “floss” the muscle.

I try to do this all around the crest of the hip. For the QL like athlean x, lower for the glutes, upper hamstring, etcall around the tight hip/lower back. When I work my leg back and forth all the tight muscles pop and crack and crunch as the go back and forth over the ball. It sounds gross! But it feels good. As long as you stay off your bones and roll on the tight, dense muscles.

The stretch that Jeff shows first in the video is pretty intense. I might not mess with that at first.

1 Like
486

Thanks, FF! That’s exactly where I’m hurting. I’m no stranger to pain, but there’s also no need to make my muscles even tighter through a pain response. I’ll try the stretch and see how my muscles respond, then proceed from there.

1 Like
487

9/18/19, Wednesday

Rest day - I’m sore! Mostly in my middle back and anterior delts. I dog-walked for 50 minutes but didn’t track distance. Leg day tomorrow.

1 Like
488

Hey TnT good to see you back, great pictures from both the wedding and the one with your Pup.

So what’s the plan going forward?

1 Like
489

Thanks Mort, it’s good to be back! The plan going forward is to maintain a very loose format of doing a few key lifts and their counterbalance lift once each week. My niblings (nieces and a nephew) are wanting me to work out with them at their gym. They can bring a free guest whenever, and I enjoy developing those relationships, so I prioritize exercising with them.

My weekly format is loose because I don’t know on any given day if I’ll train at home or the gym. Their gym has limited free weights - no barbells at all - so I have to improvise. Each week, I plan to:

  • Shoulder press (push press or strict DBs) and wide neutral rows or pulldowns
  • Chest press (incline dumbbells or incline machine) and dumbbells rows or low row machine
  • Squats (barbell or Smith machine) and RDLs or seated leg curls
  • Deficit deadlifts or back raises and leg presses. I might be able to get my niblings interested in deadlifts on the Smith machine.
  • Farmer walks or cardio machines

And that’s really it. Any accessories are bonuses. Because the exercise might change from week to week, I’m not locking myself into specific rep ranges. My overall goals remain the same - deadlift 405, squat 315, push press my body weight, chest press more than I do, maintain or improve joint health and cardio conditioning. The weekly lifts I’ve chosen help me move toward my goals, and I have a decent sense of when to push hard and when to back off, so I’m comfortable with the current plan.

Thanks for asking! To answer your question, I had to think for a moment and clarify my goals :+1:

3 Likes
490

9/19/19, Thursday

Planet Fitness Smith squat day

Warm up - treadmill, 7:00, sideways walking, backwards, forwards

Smith squat
45 x 10
135 x 10
185 x 6
225 x 4
225 x 4
Wowsers, those were embarrassingly difficult. Nearly as hard as the free weight version. I got a good squat workout tho, and my nieces, both of whom are very athletic, enjoyed squats the most and developed good form very quickly.

Leg presses
280 x 15
280 x 20
280 x 20
I only count the plate weights on these. A nice pump n burn exercise after squats.

Donkey kicks
90 x 10
95 x 10
100 x 10
I don’t normally do this exercise, but my nieces want to build their bums, and it fits into the rotation, so I’m expanding my horizons and learning a new posterior chain exercise.

Leg extensions / seated leg curls
130 x 10 / 130 x 10
130 x 10 / 130 x 10
130 x 12 / 130 x 10
Slow negatives on all curls.

Back raises
25 x 12
25 x 12
25 x 12

V-ups - bw x 50
Flutter kicks - bw x 175

Stepmill - 20:00, 64 floors

3 Likes
491

This is a phenomenal exercise. The glutes perform hip extension and this is about as good as it gets in terms of isolating that movement.

1 Like
492

This is, combined with the time spend with your niblings, a great way to stay healthy both physical and mental.

And you’ll train every muscle several times each week.

How is the running going btw, you started some baby steps to get back to running as far as i remember.

2 Likes
493

Oddly enough, I don’t feel the donkey kicks in my glutes as much as I expected. I’m still adjusting to the movement and finding the right form, so maybe there’s a learning curve at play.

494

Agreed! I’m enjoying it, and I look forward to helping them learn foundational exercises and basic workout programming.

My running stalled out, partially on purpose. My left hip was really bugging me, so I put the brakes on running til I figure out
how to address whatever’s going on.

3 Likes
495

I think it’s easy to treat it like a leg press instead of a hip extension. You’ll feel it once you figure out the MMC and isolate the glute.

1 Like
496

Good to know; I’ll keep working on it 'em.

497

9/22/19, Sunday

Just OHP

Warm-up
BPAs - 2x red x 4 x 20
Laterals, OHP, tri ext, curls - 8lbs x 15

OHP
65 x 8 (strict)
94 x 4 (strict)
115 x 3 (push)
130 x 1 (push)
140 x 4 (push)
155 x 4 (push)
170 x 4 (push)
135 x 3 (strict)
135 x 3 (strict)
135 x 3 (strict)

I was glad to get the sets of four and the threes after. I’m going to the gym with a nibling this evening so did the one lift I can’t do at Planet Fitness.

3 Likes
498

that’s some nice pressing there mate. Well done. I haven’t thrown anything over head for months now, seriously considering adding it back in after the comp in 3 weeks time.

1 Like
499

Thanks, Simo! Push presses are a seasonal lift for me; every so often they simply feel right, and I derive deep satisfaction from the movement. This one of those periods.

I’m stoked to see how your meet goes. I’ve almost caught up on your log and plan to watch as you kick butt, take names, and learn.

What will be the deciding factor in whether you add OHP to the program after your meet?

500

Probably if coach says it’s ok !! Lol

1 Like