Oddity PR

After not seriously training for the majority of this quarter (mainly schoolwork, and light lifting), I go into the gym to dick around as a study break. I do some power cleans, and eventually hit 185x1 (10lb PR). After not squatting heavy or pulling heavy for weeks.

Epic WTF moment

Trening

Leg work that I can do now includes:
Lunges
Single-leg Leg Press
Deadlifts

Bench on Tuesday was good. I hit 245 for a relatively easy single. Close grips were a little iffy on the elbows though.

Today was overhead work. I hit 155 on Push Presses for 6 singles. Easiest 155 has ever felt.

1st Week

Monday:

Both Squatting and Front Squatting felt shitty. I can get to just about an inch above parallel before the hip pain, but Lunges felt fine. Guess I will be doing some single-leg work.

Tuesday:
Bench: worked up to 215x5. First time doing full-on bench training in a few weeks. First few reps were crazy fast, but then started to slow down. If I really hammer my overhead press, then my bench should see results.

Thursday:
Deadlift: worked up to 405x5. Harder than it should have been - mainly because my leg strength is down.

Friday:
OHP: worked up to 135x3. Doing them from the clean seems to be much stronger than from the rack, but I have no clue why. Silly rep competitions were also held on the bench and barbell curl today.

Diet: Is going well. I can see top 2 abs now, in addition to the serratus and obliques that I could see before. Difficult to not eat everything in sight though.

9/23

Kinda bored after lunch, so:

Standing Press:
90x5, 5
110x3
125x1
140x1x6 @ ~9

The non-revolving barbell makes these annoying to clean. Sets 1-4 of 140 were pretty dialed in, and 5&6 were a bit grindy. I definitely want to break my press PR of 145x3 this quarter, and hopefully an increase in shoulder/upper back strength will bring my bench up too.

9/22

Earlier:

1-Arm DB Press:
25x5
40x5
55x3x5

1-Arm DB Row:
55x15
75x10
90x5
105x5
125x5

BB Curl:
75x5
90x3x5

Later:

Car Pushes - did not vomit or pass out (PR)

9/19 & 20

Monday:

Drove down from NorCal and did the following with 115lbs at the Activities Fair:

No-handed Front Squats & Back squats
Snatches
Overhead presses

Tuesday:

Worked out at my apt. I brought down a spare DB handle that I had at home. Normally unused, since it fits the small-holed weight plates, but my apt complex has ~200lbs of small-holed plates. This means that I have access to a DB that potentially holds up to 155lbs of weight, and a barbell (non-revolving) that holds up to 210lbs of weight.

1-arm DB Press/1-arm DB Row:
25x6/6
40x6/6
55x6/6, 3/6
70x1/6x3

1-Arm Db Row:
105x6x2

BW Dips/BB Curls (75lbs)
10/6x3

I did some BW dips on the railing of the staircase in the fire escape at my apt. The 90 degree angle of the railing is actually amazingly comfortable for dips - much more so than parallel bars. I suppose I can eventually weight them using a backpack or something.

Later: (because I was bored)

Standing Press:
75x8, 8
125x2x6

Barbell Row:
125x6x2
175x6x3

BW Dips:
10, 8, 4, 4, 4

9/17 Pseudo-training

In Tahoe relaxing before school starts, so I did some cleans & presses with my two rocks. I'd say the small one is about 75lbs and the big one is probably a bit over 100lbs

Small Rock for 5 sets of 5 reps

Big Rock for 7 sets of 1 rep (had my sister take a pic on one of them)

Injury updates

So my hip is still kind of messed up. I may have come back into lifting a bit too fast & furious. The good news is that I can do front squats and deadlifts without pain.

What this means is that starting in the fall I will be following the split as best as I can, substituting front squats for regular squats, and otherwise working around the hip irritation.

In other news, it looks like the November meet is pretty much out for me (unless I go bench-only lol). And aside from the 22:30 crew, I may be a ghost to most of the team with EMT training Monday - Thursday from 18:00-22:00 starting Monday of 1st week.

9/1 Post MCAT Bench

Finished my MCAT at 5:30, drove home and walked to the gym.

Bench:
worked up to 225x1 (warm-up)
205x6, 6, 6, 6, 4

Incline:
155x7, 7, 7, 5, 5

Dips:
BWx5
+25x5, 5, 4, 4, 3

Pendlay Rows:
135x5
185x5, 5
225x5

and some other stuff

I think I should do dips before inclines, because they were crazy difficult afterwards and I really need them to get my triceps strength back up. I hate this volume, but it's worth doing if I get bigger & stronger.

8/30 Deadlift

Warmed up with some back extensions and a lot of stretching. My left hamstring was super tight, so that may be having an effect on my hip problems.

Deadlift:
135x5x3
185x5x2
245x2
295x2
335x1
385x1
425x1 @9ish
335x5x5

Sumo Deadlift:
245x10x3

Chins:
30 reps @ BW

Abs

OMG so tired. Since I have no squatting to do, I decided to go all out with the deadlifting. 425 wasn't too bad - just slow off the floor. Suprisingly sumo pulling does not bother my hips, so I will use it to maintain leg & glute strength. 10 reps were a mistake though. 5x5 is a better choice.

8/29 Bench

Warmups with Cuban Presses and some other stuff

Bench:
135x5
165x5
185x5
205x5x5

Incline:
135x10x5

Upright Row:
65x10x5

Curls & Stretching

Body is definitely not used to the volume. I feel like I could have hit 225x5 today if I were doing just 1 set, so my 5x5 will probably be about ~20lbs lower than 1 all-out set of 5. Upright Rows felt pretty good so long as I used a narrow grip and pulled up to chin level. Hip still feeling like crap.

8/27 Much Lameness

Squat:
135x5
185x3
235x3 (Hip Pain)

Deadlift:
135x8
185x5
245x3
295x1
335x1
365x1
385x1
335x5, 5, 5

Leg Press:
490x10x5

Abs & Back Raises

So much fail. Hip pain is back in full swing. I have no idea why my left hip is bothering me so much. The doctor said that it was just some inflammation, and I have been stretching and foam rolling constantly.

It looks like I will be training my bench and deadlift hard, and leaving the squat by the wayside for now.

8/26 Bench

Less than a week until MCAT. Long nights studying and lots of stress.

Bench:
185x3
205x3
225x3
195x5x5

Chins/Dips:
BWx5/5x5

Row:
5 sets of 10

Curls & Rotator Cuff

As much as I hate doing volume work, I think I need it to get stronger. 1 set isnt cutting it anymore. As for the RC work, I found an exercise that works really well. Not sure what it's called, but it uses a barbell and is a combo upright row + external rotation + overhead press. My shoulders feel amazing after doing a couple sets with the 45lb bar.

EDIT: This is the rotator cuff exercise. Looks lame, feels great.

8/23 Squat

Squat:
225x3
255x3
275x3
285x3 @9ish

Front Squat:
135x5
185x3, 3, 3

Deadlift:
245x3
295x3
315x3
335x3 @7-8

Abs & Such

One of those days where the bar feels heavy. Just got in, did some work, and got out. Even if the weights are lower, I feel that my form has improved dramatically over the squat-morning that it used to be.

8/22 Bench

Bench:
195x5
215x3
235x3
185x8

CSR:
115x5x5

Delt Stuff

Uneventful for the most part. 235 felt pretty good, and my PR at that weight is 5 reps. Goal for next time is to get those 5 reps or maybe even 6.

Bodyweight at 228 this morning. My immune system just decided to shut off this weekend, so I have a bit of congestion going on. I imagine that it is a result of MCAT studying, so nbd.

8/19

Squat:
135x8
185x6
225x4
255x12, 6

Deadlift:
135x8
245x4
295x2
335x2
385x2 (too tired)

Accessory:
Good Girl/Bad Girl Machines, Leg Ext, Back Ext, Abs

8/18

Bench:
95x10
135x8
165x6
185x4
205x2
225x5, 3

Incline:
135x8
165x4
185x4
135x12

Accessory:
Side & Rear Delt Raises, Pushdowns, Curls

Weight: 229lbs

Gotta love the Lactaid milk. Gained about 4lbs this past week just from drinking lots of milk and eating lots of bread. Bench is feeling considerably better too.

PM:
30 BW Chins (Neutral Grip)

8/16

Going into today, my hips were super tight, so my squats were right at parallel instead of just below.

Squat:
135x6
185x6
225x4
255x2
275x2
295x4 (started to twist under weight, so stopped)

Deadlift:
205x6
245x4
295x2
315x10

Accessory:
Leg Ext, Good Girl/Bad Girl Machines, Back Ext, GHRAbs

Oh, how good it felt to deadlift again. Going to ease into it though, so as not to mess anything up in my back. I'm not sure if it's a side effect of high bar squatting, but I actually felt my legs getting into the lift (instead of 100% lower back).

My hips felt much better after I did all of the high rep accessory BS, so that may be key for me to stay injury-free leading up to the meet.

8/15

Took Saturday and Sunday off from training. I had milked the daily training to the point where I felt like a zombie 24/7. Transitioning to benching 2x/wk, and squatting 2x/wk now that I have gotten most of my lost strength back. Going to increase the eating as well to fill out in the 242's. BW currently 225.


Bench:
95x10
135x6
165x6
185x6
195x4
205x4, 4, 4 @8-9

Incline:
135x8, 8
155x6
165x6

Accessory:
Rear Delts, Side Delts, Triceps, Biceps (& Chins later)

***Assistance Edit:
Been doing a timed 2min set of chins on a regular basis, going for max reps at bw. Hit 25 reps tonight, a PR. Lats are looking a whole lot thicker after doing this for about a month.

8/12

Squat:
95x5
135x5
185x3
225x3x8

Bench:
95x5
135x5
165x3
185x1
205x1
225x1x2
235x1x3
185x6x2

Row (225x5)
Abs + Stretching

Everything felt like crap, and I felt like going heavy on squat today would just be a bad idea. So instead of working up to 300, I stayed at 225 and did some speed work. Focused on getting a plate rattle out of every single rep.

Bench felt decent today though. Moved grip out a bit to get a bit more grinding power, so now it is pinkies on ring (comp bar). Pecs and shoulders were super sore from incline yesterday. The deadlift-position rows keep feeling awesome, and I will be using straps to go even heavier.