Squat day

I've got to be on the other side of the county in a couple of hours, so I admit I felt a little rushed today. Still, I tried to take my time and do it right. I'm still sore from bench day two days ago -- I'd like some of that in these bird legs after today.

Had to start early this morning, so I skipped the Results since it was just after breakfast and I was still pretty full. Might be a mistake, but there it is. Used my Ace briefs and worked up to the leather belt.

It was a little chilly for SD this morning, so I started with the heater on. Lots of warm-up today, both dynamic and weighted.

Squat:

315 kg x 5 easy
335 kg x 5 not bad, though walkout was tough and I dropped a 5 kilo plate off one side on the re-rack. Felt a twinge mid-back on the left side, which didn't make me happy.
360 kg x 5 not bad at all. Stopped at 5 reps just because I was distracted by grooving on the tunes from my iPod and forgot to keep going.

220 kg x 5 sets of 10 reps

superset with

SLDL from a deficit with a lot on the bar x 5

I wanted to work on my hams and therefore went with the SLDLs.

I stopped the accessory work at three sets because I started to feel my mid-back problem. Rather than push through it, I wimped to avoid more problems. Maybe a mistake, maybe not -- we'll see.

Anyway, all in all a good day. I pushed hard, have the usual splitting headache, and don't feel guilty about cutting it short.

Now to go yell at 10 year old boys all day (last game today starts at 7:15 tonight. Nuts.)

Have a great day.

Bench day

Beautiful day today. I was dragging a bit going in, but had hustled home early to get under the weight. Looking forward to benching even though I've stagnated a bit.

I started with Results and I Spiked for some intensity. It's always a toss-up: Spike gives me an awesome rush but I always seem to puke in my Spiked workouts. I was pretty spun up by the time I got through warm-ups.

Used Convict elbow sleeves. I think my elbow/bicep tendon is ok, but I'm a huge chicken about testing it. I've tossed the baseball to the boy, but I haven't really thrown since I hurt myself. I threw him one hard curve this last weekend and it hurt badly, but I had no residual ache. Maybe I'm getting over it.

Bench with the fat bar:

185 kilos x 5 easy
195 kilos x 5 still easy
210 kilos x 5 not bad. Had a twinge in my right shoulder from getting out of proper path (too low), but no big deal. I cut it at 5 anyway rather than test it.

130 kg + a couple of orange shorty Elite bands on each side for lockout work x 5 x 10

superset with

Fat DB rows with a lot of weight x 5 x 12

I was sucking wind pretty badly the whole time. Not sure why, but I was. Didn't ralph but felt like I could the whole time, too. So it goes. I love the intensity, like I have to keep lifting.

I took the bands off for the last set of accessory benching and it felt super-odd. I'd get halfway up and thump up the rest of the way, as if there was some sort of stop halfway. Not sure how to express it -- when I got to where the bands would be pulling down hard, I raced up. Weird. Got the tricep work I wanted, though.

Elbow felt fine, shoulder feels fine, everything was fine. What a great day.

Deadlift day

Dragging today. I know why, but that doesn't change the fact. Dragging. Dragged my sorry butt into the rumpus room for some weight work. Had to.

Started with Results and SWF. Wore my Viking briefs and Spud DL belt. Warmed up with dynamic and bar work.

Deadlift:

245 kg x 5 felt a little heavy. Wuss.
260 kg x 5 tough
275 kg x 5 Got 8 reps. Didn't feel so heavy by this point, for whatever reason

160 kg x 5 set x 8 reps Sped these up, SLDL'd them down slowly

superset with

Glute bridges with a heck of a lot of weight on the bar

I need a GHR in a bad way. I feel like my hams aren't getting enough work. Don't have a way to do pull-throughs right now either.

So I was a little tired and achy. It went pretty well anyway, and I got the work done somewhat mindlessly. Good thing because my head is going to split open and spill out my sorry brain. Have to DL, though, because that opens the door for bench and squat in the next two. Yeah.

Someday these will come up.

Military press

Skipping deload this time. I have reasons.

My elbow feels much better, though I'm still very wary of it. It may a week or two before I try chins again.

No chit-chat today. Started with Results and a monster protein shake. Put Cheerios in it per Narkside and loved it, though AtLarge Maximus is the best tasting stuff on the planet all by itself. I had reasons for the extra carbs, too.

Used convict elbow sleeves and warmed up under the bar.

Military with the fat bar:

130 kg x 5 easy
140 kg x 5 easier
150 kg x 5 still easy

110 kg x 5 sets x 10 reps

superset with

posterior delt fly 5 x 8 with a lot
med ball twists x 5 x 10

Good aggression today. Worked hard and fast. Felt great, and the elbow is ok.

Didn't have time for video because I have to get to the ball field in a few minutes. Next time?

Have a great day.

Squat day

It's been a tough year already and I went into the gym about as dark as the sky, which looks like it's prepping to storm. I wasn't at all sure what the lifts would hold, particularly because today was due to be a squat max day.

I love squatting. I've made more progress on my squat than any other lift over the last three years. Everything seems to be working right now, at least as far as developing my squat is concerned. I hit a monster on my last max day, so I went in expecting big things from myself. I also went in hoping the cloud over my head didn't take away from a big day.

I started with Results and SWF. Wore Ace briefs and moved into a leather belt after warm-ups. I didn't do all of my dynamic work, but did a fair amount of bar work.

Because my numbers have started looking gaudy, I'm not going to post them on squat days. I'll likely continue to post numbers for shoulders and bench -- not sure about deads yet. But until I put video up documenting the numbers, I'm leaving them off of squat reports. If there are no pictures, it didn't happen.

On that note, I found my cables and confirmed I have the right ones, so vid should come up soon.

Squat:

lots of warm-up sets, jumping 10% of max on each

lift #1 x5 very easy
lift #2 x3 ok, but not bad -- this was up another 10% of expected max
lift #3 x1 got one, but a true max -- never had this much weight on my back before. Blew capillaries in my eyes, saw stars, failed miserably on the attempted second rep, but got one to good depth and up.

210 kilos x 5 x 10

superset with

glute bridges I love those glute bridges.

After failing on the second rep of max, I stripped the bar on the pins to 210kg and squatted the bar up to rack it. In so doing, I felt a sharp pain behind my left patella; this often happens if I don't warm up and has never proven problematic in the long term, but it did make any squats sharply painful. So I cut the workout short after a couple of assistance sets. It was a max day and I hit my max, so I don't feel too guilty about it.

All in all, a good day. Not great, but good. I'll get the video up.

Bench day

Paranoia over my elbow weighed heavily on what was due to be a max day. I still did the heavies, but the right upper limb was always on the mind. Life is a little dark right now anyway, so it's just another rock on the pile. Just got to get it done anyway.

Started with convict sleeves, Results, and SWF. Wore a beenie because I was chilly -- sorry to all of you in real cold. At least no one saw me. Apologies to Tate.

Been using Biotest Alpha-GPC for a while...can't tell it does anything at all besides line Patterson's pockets. Maybe I'm not using it right.

To it:

Bench with the fat bar:
185 kilos x 5 easy
210 kilos x 3 ok
230 kilos x 1 got 4 reps, same as last time with the same weight

130 kilos x 5 x 10

superset:

DB Rows x 5 x 12 with a lot of weight on a fat DB

I reduced the 130kg and db row sets to 3 sets out of concern for the arm. Just didn't feel that it would be productive to push it.

So my arm aches a little -- not too bad -- and my head is fine. I feel a little guilt for not doing the whole five sets of repetitive work, but not much.

Off to ice the arm. Have a great day.

Deadlift day

Got really angry last night. Been a long time since I was that angry. In a way it cleans out the pipes, but leaves bodies in the wake. Never a good thing.

So I wasn't in a great frame of mind this morning...or maybe in the best for what I had to do.

Right arm still aches like a bastard, now from anterior deltoid to the elbow. I'm getting more concerned that the only solution is rest, and I'm not ok with that. It seems everything you do with your arms involves your biceps tendon and medial epicondyle of the elbow. Nuts.

Started with Results and SWF and a sleeve on the right arm from elbow to shoulder, pretty much. Warmed up with dynamic and bar work.

Deadlift:

245 kilos x 5 very easy, no pain
275 kilos x 3 also very easy
310 kilos x 1 got 4 reps, but this wasn't easy. Funny how I run out of gas like that.

175 kilos x 5 x 8

supersetted with

Glute bridges 135# x 5 x 8 watching Ted and Molly do these online inspired me
Med ball ab twists x 5 x 10 these are still challenging

My arm aches and I was a slobbering mess in the gym, but it was a good day. Maybe my dead is going up. We'll see.

Got video -- will see if I can post it today.