Finally training again. Work stress the past two weeks, topped with Destroying my big toe on my right foot (somehow, I didn’t break it…X-ray guy reckons high bone density only thing that could have saved that), damaging the ligaments, has meant I’ve not trained anywhere near what I wanted to the past two weeks.
Im back now. Next few weeks of work will be chill, kid is also on school break for a couple weeks, and the Wife is also off for a lot of that.
Week 2, Day 5:
No squatting…knees are TRASH again. No idea why. Feels like tendonitis, but how can it be? Just old
Close grip bench with feet up:
20x12
60x8
80x5
90x8
90x8
90x8
Landmine RDL: weight is only the plates used, not counting the bar on this one.
25x12
35x12
35x12
Incline bench reverse DB flye:
2.5x20
6x20
6x20
Side plank hip dip things: each side.
8
8
8
Glute Raises on the roman chair:
12
12
12
Notes:
Felt a lot better today. Yesterday we hosted my mother inlaws 80th birthday party at our place. A great success…with a great time had by all, especially the M.I.L, who is a bloody legend. Lucked out in the best way there to be honest, greatest in-laws in the history of in-laws. I got finished the biggest piece of work of the year for me at 6pm Friday night…helped the BossLady tidy up and setup for Saturday, then literally collapsed on the couch. Think I fell asleep not five minutes after sitting down @ 830pm, a first for me. She left me there…I woke up at 5am…crazy. felt great so went for a good walk on the beach for nearly two hours with the doggo. Got home at 730, wasn’t raining so re mowed the lawn, washed the cars, walked again around the neighborhood for an hour then chilled out for a bit before the party goes arrived at 12. Was pretty beat by the evening after 6 beers and a few bourbons with a bunch of pensioners .
slept in this morning, but woke at 9 feeling Tip Top. Finished cleaning up, are a tonne of meaty leftovers, then into the garage…
Squats just wouldn’t happen, couldn’t get them working, but got a tonne of mobility and strengthening drills completed trying, which should count for future.
close grip bench felt oddly good. With my feet up on the bench a few weeks ago it still felt wildly unstable, but it’s coming together nicely now and I’m starting to chase down normal feet on the floor numbers with this.
Accessories fun as always. Got a great pump going with the RDL’s abs glute raises.
Will again try and squat tomorrow…but I’m not longer bothered if I cannot lol. Will just move straight into deadlifts which don’t seem to be as big an issue…
catching up with coach again tomorrow and chat about it all. I still want to get the legs trained frequently if we can. Don’t know what the hell is going on, SSB squats a week ago felt AMAZING and strong. See what happens.
Both sessions felt ok. Knee tendonitus has flared up AGAIN. So we are again trying something different to manage it. See how that goes…
Honestly its getting closer and closer to me just dropping any hope of rekindling my past squat strength. Im not giving up yet, but its getting closer, lol.
Bench felt good. that 115kg for 5 was rpe 10. We are getting better and better with the new technique. Its feeling second nature now, so just gotta build that strength from here, and we are.
Press hurt the shoulders. Dont know why. Honestly they have never felt great after benching…hence they are lighter anyway, but i really still dont like Pressing and benching on the same day, and have never found it particularly productive.
Will push this next meeting with the coach. And re that experience, so far its been Great for my techniques, and general ability to move better. Probably a little low on the intensity for my liking so far, but that changes with the start of the next block next week. Intend on seeing this guy through until atleast Xmas. The progress im making in terms of where i want my technique has been Awesome, and bringing back a confidence ive not felt in quite a while…But i CAN and will take it from there in the new year i think as its not a cheap service! By then, i feel like i’ll gotten what i wanted/needed from him. Hopefully he doesnt go all weird like a lot of online coaches do when people split away from them lol.
Fin.
Its quite a frustrating thing. Can be great and normal my knees one day, then completely non-compliant the next. It doesnt make any sense. The two days can be identical…and it doesnt matter.
Rather just get on with lifting literally every other thing. lol.
10 minutes on the bike with increasing intensity each minute.
30 second Spanish squat isomentrics x 3 sets.
5 second holds in 4 different positions on the leg extensions (90 deg, 120 deg, 150deg, 180 deg and back down, so 7 5 second holds each set. x 3 sets. Used 20kg.
Single arm DB Row: standard one hand and one knee on bench.
26x10
36x8
36x8 - 79lbs
Barbell Delt Row:
40x10
40x10
40x10 - 88lbs
EZY bar triceps extension:
17.5x10
17.5x10
17.5x20 - 38.5lbs
Notes:
Week 1 again, so things were pretty easy. I felt good, so wasnt easy to keep it easy LOL. But we managed.
Bench felt ok. One more adjustment here was to turn my feet out in an attempt to keep my butt on the bench better, and in turn create more stability. Its more stable for sure, but being new, it was wierd haha.
Accessories were good fun. A good pump, and i can super set them which is nice.
Knee rehab just refers to my tendonitus flare up…We could probably push through it, but its only a maybe, and im unwilling to risk it, so here we are trying to do things that might help. I’m due to squat today (this session was yesterday), using tempo squats and quite light loads, so hopefully i can get that all warmed up and working so we can get some work in before deadlifts.
Feeling good. Weight has been very stable, recovery all going well etc…just these damn knee joints.
Squat actually felt quite alright. The rehab/prehab stuff seems to get them working. They Were light though. Light and Very well controlled…see how it all pulls up for next leg day in a few days. But basically we are doing all that stuff before every training session, upper or lower.
deadlifts were actually enjoyable. Haven’t said that very much this year. No pains. Felt solid. Every rep was on point. 185kg felt easy. As it should for week 1. I want that single over 200kg this block pain free. That’s the goal, finish this session without pain in week 4…
Pullups…haven’t don’t em in a while and it shows haha. Always a few reps behind chinups, but they felt good too, no shoulder pain is nice. .
Leg raises were humbling: “this will be effing easy as…”. Next minute I re read the program and it says 4 second descents… . Killed me haha. Good.
Copenhagen Hip Dips: (I’ll let you google that like I had to!)
8
8
8
DB incline bicep curl:
10x15
10x15
10x15
Notes:
Squats felt fine. Light of course. But they did feel good. It’s just a suck it and see thing at the moment. Maybe next block we can get back to making something of them…
deadlifts were pretty good. Been a long time since I did proper paused deadlift.
Those hip dip things were extremely humbling. And today I am CRAZY sore. Crazy.
a good day. Bench felt great throughout, the top single was spot on. Feels like it’s starting to turn on with all the technical changes. Takes a while when you old.
the single arm pressing is fun…left shoulder still hurts a bit, but doesn’t by set 3. Need some warmup stuff for it I think.
love one arm rows, man. These are heading to 50+ kg no doubt.
no training tomorrow or Wednesday (most likely) with an overnight work trip scheduled. So should be fresh as on Thursday for squats/pulls. Looking forward to that.
squats felt ok. Felt ok to add a further 10kg, so I did, and they were ok also. The rehab of the rehabs rehab continues…
deadlifts felt amazing…nothing more to add there really. The top single felt really solid, and moved Very well. Still being very careful with my back. Will add the video later.
accessories were ok also…the good mornings were nice and warm by the end .
Miles away to be honest mate.
my best rpe 7 single is up around 235-240kg back during that deadlift everyday block i did.
To be honest, i’ve not been near that, since.
Squats worked quite well. Added 10kg to start, then added a further 7.5kg and the knees remained happy.
The paused deadlifts were pretty good too. Better than last week for sure. Better at them, and stronger as a result.
tried doing front foot elevated lunges but just couldn’t make them happen. Spent a lot of time… then ran out of time for other accessories. Annoying. But ok.
felt pretty good despite having almost no carbs today. Bit of a reset after a couple of days of social events on the weekend and enjoying myself too much. . Weird how I ALWAYS “Feel” better training on days like this. Performance i can’t say is really quantifiably better, but there is just no energy dip. Lunch was Huge. 4 big grass fed burger patties, and a lump of cheddar cheese. Still not hungry 7 hours later…still not sleepy, despite getting a pretty Shit sleep last night thanks to a sore shoulder that I kept rolling on to and waking up cranky. Maybe 3-4 hours of actual sleep. Happens. It’s feeling better today after some rehab type stuff on it, so I might drug up and turn in a bit earlier.
bench again tomorrow. Keen.
5 weeks until Hong Kong. Have put the idea out there for a potential strength test right before we leave…2-3RM or something. We’ll only have three weeks after this blocks conclusion, which to me is perfect for a peak, then a nice deload holiday for a week after it. See how we go.
bench went WELL. Best session yet with the coachman. Starting to click with the technical changes at the heavier loads. Could have went 125kg…rpe target was 8. Might have been 7.5. aim to hit 127.5-130 next week.
One arm pressing is a cool thing. I really like it. Third session with that now and I’m starting to feel the groove.
everything else ok.
no carbs today again, day two of making up for the weekend . I’ll take in 50 or so grams before training tomorrow, squats and deadlifts. But otherwise I’ll keep them down again tomorrow also. Perhaps all week if things keep feeling good. My current setup is to maintain, but I’ve crept up over the threshold I set in recent weeks, best to get it back towards the lower end.
I Am feeling quite large again recently, in terms of muscle. Back is starting to stand out again, chest measurement is actually the highest it’s every been…despite my weight being only 106kg. Neck/traps/arms all looking like it’s 2022 haha. Somehow my legs are back up 1.6cm also, and have been steadily rising despite the ongoing knee trouble. Turns out ANY training is good for regaining compared to no training. .
Day three Super Low Carb. Feeling fine still. Was getting a very slight headache earlier…but put some salt on the old tongue, and smashed another 500ml of water and it went away within 15 minutes and hasn’t returned.
I salt my meals…but maybe need more.
Feeling like there won’t be a performance issue training today either, so will stay the course. I am staying alert to anything not feeling ‘Good’.
Dropped a rather shocking 2.6kg of water weight between Monday morning and Today (Wednesday morning). That’s crazy to me…but had been feeling VERY bloated the last couple weeks. Feel like a good reset is in progress.
Today’s feast was a Wonderful Grass Fed/Finished Rump steak, with a 150gm portion of Wild Caught Canadian Salmon…and a decent piece of cheddar cheese. Only JUST satisfied…haha.
It might be just in my head…but my energy is better than a few days ago. My mind is pretty clear also. Just feel ‘Good’ I guess. Bloated feeling is gone.
Not 100% convinced that Not consuming carbs long term is a particular sensible thing to do, so will be adding things back very soon, but slowly. But nothing particularly complex…and certainly nothing too janky.
.