Bench 5

Bench:

295 x 5

305 x 5 @ 9+, 5 @ 10-

Getting close to my all-time PR of 310 x 5 (while weighing 220, haha)

Pause Bench:

265 x 3 @ 3sec

275 x 3, 3 @ 3 sec

Dips:

4 sets til failure,

Close-grip pull ups:

5 sets til failure

Shrugs:

405 x 10

495 x 3 sets of something

Finished with ab wheel and PNF

Bench 3

Bench:

275 x 3

295 x 3

315 x 3

315 x 2.7 :'(

295 x 3

Got a bit greedy on the second set of 315. I should've been more conservative.

Close-grip bench:

225 x 5

235 x 5

245 x 5

Keeps getting better

3-board:

315 x 3

345 x 3

365 x 3

385 x 3

Penday Rows:

135 x 5

185 x 5, 5

235 x 5, 5

Barbell Shrug:

405 x 10

495 x 10

585 x 10, 8

Crazy sore from these later

Hammer Curls:

65 x 10

80 x 8

Finished with ghr abs and pnf stretching

Squat 3

Hamstrings were extremely sore going into this workout. I tried massage, foam roller, and multiple PNF sessions.

Squat:

405 x 3

435 x 3

465 x 3

475 x 3

Hamstrings were really killing me today. They were tight enough to cause my lower back to round and the tightness in the left one really made me twist. The third pre was always the best though after stretching them out.

Pause Squats:

365 x 3 @ 3 sec

385 x 3 @ 3 sec

405 x 3 @ 3 sec

These were somewhat better since I could just stretch out the hamstrings alllll the way down.

Leg Press:

450 x 20

360 x 20, 20

I could barely straighten out my legs at the top, my hamstrings were so tight :'(

Finished with foam roller transversus and pnf stretching

Squat 5

Squat:

405 x 5

425 x 5

455 x 1

My lower back was seizing up on these so I stopped at 455. The weight wasn't bad though.

Leg Press:

6 plates? x 10, 10, 10

Did some leg extensions followed by ball bridges and pnf. Kind of a disappointing workout.

Bench sort of

Last chest day in 4-star, so I figured i should take advantage of the dumbbells on the off week

Dumbbell Bench:

80 x 5

100 x 5

110 x 5

120 x 5

130 x 5* @ 10+ (PR?)

Spotter helped slightly on the last one :( Maybe I would have gotten it?

Stability Bench:

165 x 10, 10, 10

These felt a little shaky at first, but much better by rep 5. No rotator cuff issues either.

Dips:

bw x 13, 20, 30, 25

PAHMP

Pendlay Rows:

135 x 5

205 x 5

255 x 5

275 x 5 (+30 PR)

Gotta get better at these. Decided tonight was the night.

Finished with some pnf. Wanted to do abs, but my left ribs are still hurting from squatting :/

Squat Assistance

Did some non-traditional lifts on the off week before the cycle starts back up. My right knee feels messed up at the moment.

Band-resisted Squats:

225 x 2, 2, 2

275 x 2, 2, 2

315 x 2, 2, 2 @ 7

365 x 2 @ 8

I'm guessing around 150 lbs. of resistance at the top? 4-star got two new power racks, which made it tough to tell. The bands full deload at the bottom, which was nice. The last set felt crazy heavy though.

SS-bar Pause Squats:

225 x 3

275 x 3

295 x 3

315 x 3

I think I bruised my left floating rib on one of these sets, because it got really hard to breath and i felt like passing out after finishing. It hurts just sitting here.

Leg Prass:

490 x 10, 10, 10

Finished with pnf.

Bench 1

Bench:

275 x 1

295 x 1

315 x 1 @ 10-

320 x 1 @ 10

325 x 1 @ 10

These felt much better than the benches at nationals. Lots of good explosion at the bottom and some drive at the top. Shoulder was still sore and the biceps ached, but not too bad.

Overhead pin press:

135 x 5

185 x 3

205 x 3

215 x 3

225 x 3

I didn't have a spotter so I did these just to get some heavy tricep lockout work. Felt hard.

Pendlay Row:

135 x 5

185 x 5

205 x 5

225 x 5

245 x 5 @ 9+

I did these with a loose belt for a change, and whoa, did they feel better. 245 was hard, but not nearly as sloppy as was in the past. I still feel these a lot in my hamstrings. Does anyone else?

Dips:

bw x 10, 30, 25, 25

The first set always feels terrible. Warming up?

Finished with crunches, pnf, and rotator cuff work.

Squat 1

Squat:

415 x 1

435 x 1 @ 10-

455 x 1 @ 10-

475 x 1 @ 9+

495 x 1 @ 10

My lower back is doing that shaking thing where it catches and then releases half way through. It terrifies the spotters (also, me).

SS-bar pin squats:

225 x 3

275 x 3

315 x 3 @ 9

365 x 2 @ 10+

EFFFF. I used a lower pin then last week. Things were feeling good and I hit 365 x 3 last week, so I thought I might jump straight to it and go up from there. However, I nearly passed out from hitting the second rep. I think I remember it being hard last week too, but I didn't write down my RTS levels, which wrecked my weight planning this week.

Zercher Squats:

225 x 8

275 x 8 @ 8+

295 x 3

The pad rolled out on the last set, so I just stopped.

Finished with ab wheel and pnf stretching. also, some overhead shrugs

Bench 3

Bench:

275 x 3, 3, 3

285 x 3

295 x 3

Pain was @ 3. The spotter noticed that my left arm was flaring more than my right. Perhaps I'm compensating due to my sore shoulder. I need to video it to see.

Foam roller press:

295 x 5

315 x 5

335 x 5

These felt better. Spotter said I was even on both arms, so I think I must be twisting at the bottom, which makes sense since that's where it feels most uncomfortable.

Triceps extension:

30 x 12

Eh, felt weird, so I stopped.

Dips:

bw x 15, 20, 20

Pendlay Row:

135 x 8

185 x 5, 5, 5

My middle back is mildly sprained and my lower back is sore as eff, so I just skipped shrugs for the time being. I'll probably work them in on friday.

Finished with some foam roller transversus, banded rotator cuff, and pnf stretching.

Squat 3

Feeling a bit more beat up than I expected from having done lower back work only two days ago. Got a nasty case of the shakes on most of the heavy sets.

Squat:

405 x 3

425 x 3 @ 9+

445 x 3 @ 9+

455 x 3 @ 9+

465 x 2 @ 10-

Lots of personal problems today. I misgrooved the last set and had to grind it up from on my toes. I just stopped after that. No spotters and this dude was watching some car show instead of having the radio on, so it was like lifting in someone's living room. :/

SS-bar pin squats:

225 x 3

275 x 3

315 x 3 @ 9+

335 x 3 @ 10

355 x 3 @ 10

I think the pin was one higher this time, but the first two sets felt much harder. I regained some mental clarity somewhere after the second set and was able to grind up the reps. The ss-bar succccks for these when it gets heavy.

Zercher squats:

185 x 8

225 x 8

275 x 8

These felt much better than last week.

Finished with some overhead shrugs, pnf, and decline crunches

Bench

Incline Dumbbell Press:

90 x 5

95 x 5

100 x 5

105 x 5

There's no barbell incline set up at 4-star (the makeshift one scares me), so I just did dumbbell since there were heavy dumbbells.

Standing Dumbbell Press:

60 x 8

65 x 8

70 x 7.8

Tried the standing variant today and it was much harder on the lockout.

Dumbbell Bench Press:

90 x 8 @ 10, 8 @ 8+

100 x 8 @ 9

The first set at 90 felt very hard, so I repeated, but then it got much easier.

Wide-grip pull ups:

bw x 7, 8, 10, 8

Ughh.. getting fat? Why are these so hard?

Dumbbell Rows:

135 x 5, 10, 8

Got frustrated for doing only 5 reps on the first set, so I did 10 to spite the weight.

Finished with overhead shrugs and pnf stretching

Bench

Bench:

225 x 8, 8, 8, 8, 8

Went just for volume to get the muscles used to working out again. No shoulder or elbow pain, which is awesome.

Incline Dumbbell:

70 x 8, 8

75 x 8

80 x 8

Chin ups:

10

15

12

I felt a weird tightness in my left rhomboid area when I first started. Someone suggested that tightness in this area might be responsible for shoulder pain, so I think it's good i managed to stretch it out.

Dips:

10

20

20

Cable Row:

200 x 15, 15, 15

Dumbbell Triceps Extensions:

30 x 10

40 x 10

45 x 10

Bicep curlz:

50 x 7

55 x 5

60 x 5

Finished with 3 sets of transversus crunches and some pnf stretching. The stretching felt awesome after playing ultimate frisbee on tuesday, which I'm still crazy sore from.

Return of the bench (and pain)

Decided to test out the shoulder today...

Bench:
133 x 20
183 x 15
221 x 8, 8, 8

The shoulder didn't have any pain today, which was amazing. There was definitely some discomfort though by the time i hit 225, so I just stayed there and did reps until it felt uncomfortable. However, the bicep tendon pain was unreal after the third set. I have no idea why it was so bad, as i haven't done anything to irritate it. It was probably the worst it's ever been to the point that i felt like i was going to pass out from the pain.

Bent over-rows:
245 x 8
267 x 5, 6, 8

These were tough because it hurt a lot just to bend my arm. Once bent, I could rep it out and then try not o hyperventilate from the pain after the set.

Lat-pull Down:
250 x 8, 8, 8, 8

Machine Dips:
4 sets?

No idea what the weight was

Did some of the following: Cable Flyes, Tricep Extensions, 1 set of hammer curls. transversus cruches, and pnf.

By the time the workout ended, the pain was down from an @7 to an @4. I really hope that it goes away. The shoulder discomfort stuck around but not nearly as bad as it had been (no pain though). I'll probably take the week off from benching proper but keep up the pressing and triceps.

Bench meh

Injury status:

left shoulder: 10%. I can't press at all without significant pain (strength is still there)

bicep tendons: 70%. no numbness (yay), but still some discomfort. full strength though

right triceps tendon: 80%. mild tendonitis, mostly during triceps exercises.

I tried just hitting the bar, but the rotator cuff would not have it. It's feeling better, but more rest is needed.

(Sort of) Arnold Press:

35s x 30

45s x 20

55s x 10

65 x 8

75 x 5, 6, 5

If i keep my elbows really close when pressing, the shoulder feels fine, so I did these just to do some sort of compound exercise. Stopped at 75s when I started feeling like stability might be an issue.

Dumbbell Row:

85 x 8 (no pain)

100 x 8

115 x 8

130 x 6?

Gotta keep working on these.

Superset rows with one-arm triceps extensions.

Superset curls (up to 60s) sets of 6 and cable triceps for sets of 30. I did a few very light cable flyes too just to flush the area with blood and maybe remind my pecs what they're there for. :/

Finished with ab wheel and pnf. I really hope this shoulder thing heals quickly.

Squat 3

Squat:

475 x 3,

495 x 3, 3 @ 9, 3 @ 9+, 3 @ 10

475 felt light and fast. Around the 3rd set, I could tell I had deadlifted 3 days prior. The last set was rushed because the spotters were leaving and was a bit of a grinder. Overall, fairly satisfied.

SS-bar box squat:

185 x 5

225 x 5

255 x 5

275 x 5

Fairly gassed at this point, but started to recover strength on these

Leg Press:

4 plates x 12

5 plates x 10, 10, 10

I got really tired on these.

Finished with ball transversus and pnf.

Bench Assistance

Left shoulder was still wrecked. Focused on upper back for deadlift weakpoint.

Bent-over rows:

275 x 5, 5, 6, 5, 5

Cable Rows:

190? x 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

4-star has this ancient cable row that is plate-loaded. The wire has no grease and it creaks, which is awesome.

superset rows with:

One-arm Tricep extensions:

5 sets up to 55's x 8

Curls:

worked up 50s x 6

superset with Cable Triceps, light sets of 30.

Ab wheel and stretching.

Deadlift 5 3

Deadlift:

625 x 1

675 x 2 + 1f

675 x 2

Lots of personal problems on this. 625 felt solid. I was using the IPF-style bar for deadlifts, but its knurling was fairly smooth. By the time I hit 675, I couldn't hold on to the 3rd rep at the top. I was originally going for 5 as well, but my upper-back was shot. I've really been neglecting it in my workouts the past two cycles and I paid for it big time today.

After the first set, I felt strangely fine (usually I'm wrecked after a heavy set), so I switched out the bar for a better one with more knurling and did a double. Again, it was the upper back that failed first.

Lunges:

185 x 5

225 x 5, 5, 5

Shrugs:

used their shrug bar/platform/handle things

450? x 4 sets til failure (~20)

Superset with Banded hamstring curls (4 sets).

Floor sweeper abs and stretching

Squat 5

Shoulders felt terrible today.

Squat:

415 x 5

435 x 5

455 x 5

475 x 5 @ 9

495 x 5 (+10 PR) @ 9+

Man, these look high from this angle but I could've sworn i sunk them...

SS-bar box squats:

245 x 5

275 x 5

295 x 5

315 x 5

Leg Press:

5 plates x 10, 10

6 plates x 10, 10

Finished with pnf and transversus abs

Squat 5

Squat:

405 x 1

455 x 1, 1

4-star was empty today and 455 felt terrible, so i just stopped. :(

SS-bar box squats:

245 x 5

275 x 5

295 x 5, 5

Did some abs, plyos and pnf.

Deadlift 5

Deadlift:

605 x 5, 5 @ 8+

I went for volume today, which means two sets instead of one, haha. Things felt decent overall, but I need to keep stretching as I can tell my sciatic nerve isn't firing at 100%

Good Mornings:

315 x 8, 8, 8, 8

Lower back was not as happy with these. I kept it light to give my bicep tendons a break and avoid taxing the lower back too much.

Lunges:

135 x 6

185 x 6

225 x 6, 6

185 felt much lighter than 135, so I moved up to 225 with no problem.

Finished with pnf and floor sweeper abs