Squats were quite good…I messed up a rep or two here and there, but corrected Everytime each time. They moved well throughout otherwise. Still we keep building, quite a bit left in the LP yet.
Press was alright also, was a bit tight on the warmups, but it smoothed out.
Pendlay Row is a new addition. I’m well accustomed to them, but still started a little conservative for the moment. Could still feel the deadlifts…so decided it was time to reduce its frequency.
Squats were pretty good…except I forget I was using my belt for the first two sets, because I’m an idiot. Put it on for the third set and enjoyed the much easier final set . Hilarious that it took me two set to realise what was ‘off’. Standard Meathead behavior.
Bench went well, a little more fatigue heading in after the mistake on squats I think, but they moved well and looked faster on film than they felt. No issue really. Onwards.
Deadlift…Still quite hard. Still moving though…might get one or two more weight jumps before I need to to change something else. But who knows yet, the change to every second session might be enough to keep them going a little while longer. Really like to get to 205kg/450lbs before that to get a nice solid base up.
DB rows are whatever. Accessories matter of course, and I progressed them. Great.
Well, squats were junk. Took a long time to get the body to warm to them. Leg curls, calf raises, static marching, upper back foam rolling, bird dogs, and Tib raises…Then they felt Ok. Strong enough warming up, until 105kg. That felt harder than it ever should…loaded 117.5kg anyway, and man, those two singles felt like rpe 9+. Took the second one to see if it just me…that felt harder.
Lower back was super tight over the weekend, tried all many of exercises to get it loosened up yesterday, and Barely got it working. Today is does feel a lot better, but I dare say whatever That is or was, throttled my engine today.
Press was ok. Infact, it felt quite good…
Pendlay Rows were also great. I mis-loaded here…id programmed 85kg (5kg jump), but accidentally loaded 95kg AFTER reminding myself that 70kg was on there for first warmup, not 60. Then loaded it like it was 60 anyway . In either case, 95kg felt Just fine. I didn’t notice until I finished the first set - just thought it felt unusually heavy, and initially put it down to the same issues plaguing me today on the squat. It felt so fine, I left it on for set 2 and 3, and will go up from here next time also anyway.
Watching my deadlift video back from last session, I can’t help but feel This is where the issue has come from. I definitely lost some technique for the last 2 reps…through the lower to mid back. Definitely felt hard that day…after this discovery, I planned to repeat the load, but I think pulling it back for a session or two will be better long term. I’m no novice, so can’t expect to just be stronger a week after EVERY difficult set. I’ll pull it back to 170-180kg, and let it climb back up over a few sessions. Squat is number one at this minute, So I don’t NEED to push the deadlift so much. I might give that a few sessions of progression, then bring the frequency down again to once every three sessions, OR I’ll alternate deadlift sessions with heavy/light, and use the 10x1 (singles) EMOM setup I used last time I ran this cycle for the light day. We’ll see what interests me come time.
Otherwise, I’m feeling quite good lately. Sleep is still a little suspect. Lots of waking up each night Still. Been going on for months, perhaps longer, and I can’t quite pin point Why. No need for toilet breaks, just consciously waking up with a blank mine, then going back to sleep…making me wake up most mornings feeling a little wasted, taking 30-40 minutes to feel good upon waking. Not enjoying it… Might be time for a sleep study.
Alright. Last three days I’ve upped my calories to 3000 per day.
This morning, I’ve woken feeling the best I have in Months. I slept through, I didn’t wake overnight, got over 8hrs…and woke naturally as I should at 6:50.
And my weight was down 700gm LOL. It has been creeping up slowly, a couple hundred grams per week the last few weeks while apparently in a deficit.
Undereating is a real thing haha. Workouts have been getting harder (heavier), so the demands for recovery I think had just outrun my diet, and then effect was being compounded across the system. I’ve added a little more fat, and a lot more carbs. Same foods, just Moar.
I’m just going to leave it there for the foreseeable future.
Squats felt ok today. Pretty good infact. Again like last time, like the previous session never happened. Just a clue I think that I’m pushing my recovery abilities. I’ve upped calories a little more this past three days, and do infact feel better already.
I slept GREAT last night 8.5hrs uninterrupted. Actually felt Good this morning. MAYBE for the first time this year…
Bench was good also, felt heavy still, but the reps and sets keep coming, with more in the tank.
Deadlift…wow. Much better this week. I had intended to pull them back this week and reset, but the last warmup at 180kg FLEW. So we decided that id hype up a bit and give it a crack. Very glad that I did. Feel like I still had two reps left in me. Perfect. Now to just recover from it so I can go again in 5 days time. Really would like a couple more 2.5kg jumps from this cycle.
Accessories were accessorized. DB rows continue to improve. Added the glute raises on the roman chair mostly because my training partner hadn’t finished yet…and I was Full of energy still. Likely to be quite sore tomorrow . If you have done this exercise, you’ll understand that 20 solid reps is very Solid indeed. Basically using the roman chair/back extension machine for this instead of the back extensions. Put yourself into a crunch essentially, and drive the movement solely with the Glutes from this position. No lower back. Just glutes with crunched abs. Quite a burn. If you walk a little funny right after the set, you got it right .
Squats were good. Not perfect. But good. No pain, no issues really. Took a bit of warming up, but that’s ok. A bit of fatigue in my low back and legs from the last couple days with work, some hiking, and lots of dad and daughter time today also with indoor rock climbing and a visit to inflatable world! Didn’t hurt myself, so great day haha. But yeah, was feeling it all today heading into the garage this afternoon.
Press felt completely unaffected. It went well, it felt strong. No shoulder complaints. I think the issue in getting there currently is the way in sleeping on it. Unintentional of course…I’m moving into that position while asleep, then I wake up sore . But yeah press is coming back well! Projecting a Max of close to 80kg again now… Still a ways to go until 90+. But it’s coming.
The rows were strong. No issues jumping 5kg today. 2.5kg next time I think. No rush. It’s probably pretty close to my bench 5rm to be honest at the moment.
These Workout B sessions are long…2 hours today, without any fluffing around either. 6 minute rests on the squats and bench at this stage.
Squats went well. Last set I had to get a little hyped for, and it made for easier…but a little messier reps. I had reps in reserve, so I’ll progress, but wasn’t SUPER happy with that last set.
Bench was ok also. Last set was Hard…4 sets Might be becoming too much for one session, though the squats are making them harder also. The extra calories are helping…but that will only help for so long before I inevitably will need to make a change.
Deadlift… Was…GREAT. It’s getting stronger quicker than anything else, driven of course by the squats. Zero pain here again today, reps came easy. Perhaps had 3 in the tank here, crazy.
Goals…So I started this reset/rehab cycle 7 weeks ago with the first stage goal of just getting back to 122.5x5 squat, 105x5 bench, 200x5 deadlift and 60x5 press. Id forgotten these numbers until I checked in the diary after today’s session. Nice to surpassed all of them almost without noticing…except the deadlifts. But 200+ for 5 is already there. Nice. I’ll wait until I’m done with this cycle before setting any new targets.
All of the Rain. All of the time. Starting to flood around here again, we have two roads to get in here, and one closed this morning…incedentally, thats the road to the school…So we turned around (that took over 20 minutes with hundreds of people trying to do the same) and went home…a home schooling day today
Daughter was very happy haha. Turns out half her friend group were caught out the same…so they are now happily engaging in what sounds like a pretty wild group call with the Ipads. One time i’m not fussed at all about screen time…
We lost power here a few minutes ago…We are totally safe, our street is quite elevated, but its going to be a quiet day. Phone battery is full thankfully, but laptop wont last much past 90 minutes. Luckily, i’m fairly quiet with work this week. And the one construction site i have active currently, is sitting through the same rain delays.
So, time to hunker down i guess and chill out. Stove is Gas powered…will have to light it with a match though LOL. Took meat out that we need for the day and put it in an eksy, along with a few drinks for the fam and some veg, just incase the power is out all day, dont want to be opening the fridge/freezer again if we dont need to.
Will work until the laptop dies, then i’ll eat…relax, then train.
Squat warmups just weren’t working today. Felt a bit under-recovered to be honest. Both knees felt a bit cooked, and glutes and lower back were still tight, and a little tender. See how it feels tomorrow.
Press was great though. Everything moved well, that final set had another rep in the tank…so strength is coming back up nicely here. ~80kg estimated max now I’d suggest.
Was short on time after work…So it was likely that it would have ended up a One lift day either way. Happy to train again tomorrow, plenty of time.
Squats were ok. A little shitty warming up, but it got going by the 90kg warmups. They weren’t easy…but also again not a max effort. Getting tough in the context of the whole training session/week. Considering putting a light day in on the middle day (next session) to try and milk it a little longer. We’ll see how the warmups go on Wednesday.
Bench was better than expected. No harder than last session, which is great. Have dropped a set back to 3x5 now.
Deadlift was Good again! Felt harder than it looked, probably moved the same as last week on camera, or close anyway. That’s Goal number Four for this training period…The plan after hitting this number was to pull it back to once per week, (currently 1.5x per week), and swap day one deadlifts for a light day (10x1 With something in the order of 80% of the heavy day - give or take). Bench and Press I plan to move back on to the Texas Method setup. Whether that stays within the 3 days per week structure, or I move it to the condensed Texas method setup of 4 days, I’m not yet sure.
Accessories were accessorized. Extra 1kg again on those. I know the weight isn’t a massive matter of importance here, but I wanna push them on to beyond 40kg if I can, as that will be all time PR stuff. Ive done this exercise for 6’s at that weight, but not 8 according to the training diary.
Had trouble with the old knees on Saturday when I tried squatting…so instead, I made it an accessory session with all of my rehab stuff in one session. (Tib Raises - both bodyweight and weighted using the Tib Bar, Lots of Single leg marching for the Psoas - both weighted and not so, and some extra glute work on the back extension). Just lots and lots of reps. Was a little sore and tender Sunday, so just waited until today (Monday) to carry on. I’m noticing I can do three sessions of progression on the squat before it’s too much. So it makes sense to put a light day in somewhere, one day per week to start, but possibly every second session might not be the worst idea. Endless possibilities really, likely use front squat to give the shoulders a break also. I’ll sleep on it.
Tell you what, not recovered today at all, LOL. Have slept well, too. And ate well.
I’m close to recovering…but yeah, its now taking that extra day to get over these bigger sessions.
Solid Session overall. Squats taken as a light day. Smart move I feel, as they didn’t feel ready for much heavier today.
Press was good. Wasn’t an easy session, earning every rep almost now. Good. I’ve got one more weight increase in this progression I think. After which I’ll move to triples for a time. Don’t want to Rush into a change, as today was certainly affected by the previous training session.
Still intending to run a mock meet around the end of June. The Valkyrie has a weekend away to Sydney for my birthday 27th-29th, so it might be that I “max” out either the 26th or the 30th, depending on work demands.
Pendlay Rows and curls…Were also Great. The Rows in particular were still very strong. No issue with the aggressive progression so far, easily managing another 5kg/10lbs, and intend on loading 110kg next time, caught bench quicker than I thought, which is a great sign for my back strength in general.
Pleased with the progress thus far, Squats are Slowly coming back up, really slowly, though I was probably in the worst state Squat Strength wise before this cycle than I had been since I was a beginner a very long time ago. But said returning strength is having a nice effect on everything else. It would be nice to total north of 500kg/1102lbs come end of June. That would be a nice base to starting looking at a move to an all time PL total (best was 585kg/1289.7lbs a few years ago now…). Not bad for a 42yo, with not great genetics for the task!
. Hilarious that it took me two set to realise what was ‘off’. Standard Meathead behavior.
. But yeah press is coming back well! Projecting a Max of close to 80kg again now… Still a ways to go until 90+. But it’s coming.
