Weird, but impressive

Strange day today with the squats. Preface by saying I got my booster shot yesterday, and also had a bunch of Friday wine (I have cut waaay down on alcohol consumption, that is a story for another day), so needless to say I was not feeling super. Something clicked halfway through the warmups and it started feeling pretty good. Stayed away from my 155 TM and tripled 150 instead….3 of these was much better than the 2 shit reps at 155 last time.

After that I was feeling pretty strong, so I made sure to punish myself a bit extra on the backoff sets. This is the kind of squat day I should be doing more frequently.

  • Barbell Squat

    • 60 kg x 5 reps
    • 75 kg x 5 reps
    • 90 kg x 5 reps
    • 110 kg x 3 reps
    • 125 kg x 3 reps
    • 140 kg x 1 reps
    • 150 kg x 3 reps
    • 130 kg x 8 reps
    • 120 kg x 8 reps
    • 110 kg x 8 reps
  • Leg Press

    • 135 lb x 6 reps
    • 225 lb x 6 reps
    • 315 lb x 6 reps
    • 405 lb x 6 reps
    • 225 lb x 20 reps
  • Calf Press On The Leg Press Machine

    • 135 lb x 10 reps
    • 225 lb x 10 reps
    • 315 lb x 10 reps
    • 405 lb x 10 reps
    • 225 lb x 25 reps
  • Preacher Curl

    • 30 lb x 8 reps
    • 40 lb x 8 reps
    • 50 lb x 8 reps
    • 60 lb x 8 reps

Pretty worn out now, though, gonna have an off day tomorrow after six days in a row.

8 Likes

Oof. Back down to earth today. Probably suffering some after effects of the tough squat day a couple days ago, but just feeling all tired and sore. Left shoulder acting up. Long story short, no power at all today, and I am not sure I would have even managed 90 if I tried. Topset today was harder than the one that was 5 kilo heavier last week.

  • Standing Barbell Shoulder Press (OHP)

    • 35 kg x 5 reps
    • 45 kg x 5 reps
    • 52.5 kg x 5 reps
    • 62.5 kg x 3 reps
    • 70 kg x 3 reps
    • 80 kg x 1 reps
    • 87.5 kg x 1 reps
    • 62.5 kg x 8 reps
    • 62.5 kg x 8 reps
    • 62.5 kg x 8 reps
  • Isolateral Plate Loaded Shoulder Press

    • 100 lb x 8 reps
    • 150 lb x 8 reps
    • 190 lb x 8 reps
    • 210 lb x 6 reps
    • 240 lb x 3 reps (PR)
    • 100 lb x 20 reps
    • 100 lb x 20 reps

Whatever. 87.5 is still my topset for a reason.

4 Likes

Bro Day. Still sorta feeling like I have my man-period, but the work I did was okay regardless. Did a bunch of really easy deadlifts for the first time in several months, just because I had time.

  • Machine MTS High Row

    • 20 kg x 10 reps
    • 25 kg x 10 reps
    • 30 kg x 10 reps
  • Barbell Deadlift

    • 60 kg x 5 reps
    • 80 kg x 5 reps
    • 100 kg x 5 reps
    • 120 kg x 5 reps
    • 140 kg x 5 reps
  • Pull-Up

    • 5 reps
    • 5 reps
    • 5 reps
    • 5 reps
    • 5 reps
    • 1 reps (55 seconds. Could just not hold out for 5 more seconds)
  • Isolateral Plate Loaded Row

    • 102 lb x 8 reps
    • 152 lb x 8 reps
    • 192 lb x 8 reps
    • 242 lb x 8 reps
    • 282 lb x 8 reps
    • 332 lb x 8 reps
    • 192 lb x 15 reps
  • Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown

    • 60 lb x 10 reps
    • 90 lb x 10 reps
    • 120 lb x 10 reps
    • 150 lb x 10 reps
    • 90 lb x 10 reps
  • Dumbbell Bicep Curl

    • 8 kg x 8 reps
    • 8 kg x 10 reps
    • 8 kg x 10 reps
    • 8 kg x 10 reps
    • 8 kg x 10 reps
    • 8 kg x 10 reps
3 Likes

Still feeling a bit wimpy and worn down, but trending positive I suppose. Once again without my spotter today, so kept all the maxes today at the TM, and then just did a few repping sets. 100 x 15 on the decline probably ties my PR for that weight, but with much better command of the weight itself, so I think I could easily do better than this if I was doing more volume work.

  • Decline Barbell Bench Press

    • 60 kg x 5 reps
    • 70 kg x 5 reps
    • 80 kg x 5 reps
    • 95 kg x 3 reps
    • 110 kg x 3 reps
    • 125 kg x 1 reps
    • 135 kg x 1 reps
    • 100 kg x 15 reps
  • Barbell Incline Bench Press

    • 45 kg x 5 reps
    • 55 kg x 5 reps
    • 65 kg x 5 reps
    • 75 kg x 3 reps
    • 85 kg x 3 reps
    • 95 kg x 1 reps
    • 105 kg x 1 reps
    • 110 kg x 1 reps
    • 90 kg x 10 reps
    • 60 kg x 15 reps
  • Dumbbell Bench Press

    • 24 kg x 6 reps
    • 26 kg x 6 reps
    • 28 kg x 6 reps
    • 30 kg x 6 reps
    • 32 kg x 6 reps
    • 34 kg x 12 reps

My morning BW is probably now at about 85 kilo, so that was the target I was aiming for. I feel that I am going to need to change things up here pretty soon, probably with the start of the new year. A bit of conditioning is probably in order, because I have been doing jack shit. Maybe also a shift back over to volume work instead of all the maxing.

5 Likes

Impressive pressing strength as always, and I can’t even caveat that with “for an old dude” because it’s just legit good.

Trying to make my compliment as backhanded as possible.

4 Likes

I mean, you’re technically right. But also: he’s old. And short

3 Likes

You both left out ‘very sensitive to getting his feelings hurt’.

3 Likes

Squat Day. I am going to keep trucking on with this idea of increasing volume sub-maximum, because it is clearly going to work. It is also extremely not fun. TM is still set at 155, so I am just trying to stay below that and rep 150. Then the terrible backoff sets. Pretty happy with the results, and I feel pretty strong even with just 5 days between squats.

  • Barbell Squat

    • 60 kg x 5 reps
    • 80 kg x 5 reps
    • 92.5 kg x 5 reps
    • 110 kg x 3 reps
    • 125 kg x 3 reps
    • 140 kg x 1 reps
    • 150 kg x 4 reps
    • 132.5 kg x 8 reps
    • 122.5 kg x 8 reps
    • 112.5 kg x 8 reps
  • Ab Wheel (standing)

    • 10 reps
  • Machine Ab Crunch

    • 25 kg x 10 reps
    • 30 kg x 10 reps
    • 35 kg x 10 reps
    • 40 kg x 10 reps
    • 45 kg x 10 reps
    • 50 kg x 10 reps
  • Muscle-Up

    • 1 reps
  • Leg Press

    • 135 lb x 25 reps
    • 225 lb x 25 reps
    • 315 lb x 25 reps
  • Calf Press On The Leg Press Machine

    • 315 lb x 30 reps
    • 315 lb x 30 reps
4 Likes

Tell me you’re British without saying you’re British…

3 Likes

I thought my food photos did a fairly good job of that.

3 Likes

Mate you are strong right now. Press strength is damn good and now your squats are making me have to work harder again. Nice work.

1 Like

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, or whatever is you all choose to celebrate this season. Here’s looking forward to a 2022 that isn’t total shit.

4 Likes

Amen to that. Merry Christmas.

2 Likes

I choose to celebrate pigs in blankets, as Jesus intended.

Have a good day old man.

1 Like

Actually went to the gym today on Christmas, because the boy wanted to. Was feeling good and hoping for a christmas miracle, but it wasn’t meant to be….tried and failed twice at 95. First one felt very close, but left arm lagged behind and doomed me. Second attempt I fucked up technically, so it had no chance. On the bright side, 90 went up no problem.

  • Standing Barbell Shoulder Press (OHP)

    • 35 kg x 5 reps
    • 45 kg x 5 reps
    • 52.5 kg x 5 reps
    • 62.5 kg x 3 reps
    • 70 kg x 3 reps
    • 80 kg x 1 reps
    • 90 kg x 1 reps
    • 80 kg x 3 reps
    • 70 kg x 8 reps
    • 60 kg x 10 reps
  • Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press

    • 18 kg x 8 reps
    • 22.5 kg x 8 reps
    • 27 kg x 8 reps
    • 30 kg x 8 reps
    • 34 kg x 8 reps
    • 20 kg x 12 reps
  • Upright Barbell Row

    • 20 kg x 12 reps
    • 20 kg x 12 reps
  • Muscle-Up

    • 2 reps
    • 3 reps
    • 3 reps
    • 3 reps

I feel my sub-max repping ability is kind of poor right now, so I will probably try to fix that in the new year.

9 Likes

Merry Christmass!

1 Like

Cheers mate, right back at ya.

1 Like

Gyms open up on Christmas over there?

Yeah. I think the only day they ever close is New Years day.

Must be a cultural thing. No gyms would even think about opening Christmas Day here, but most would be open as normal on New Year’s Day