Notes:
Wasn't scheduled to Squat till Friday so not fully recovered, but given the break in work yesterday and that I'm out of town this weekend I decided to push it. The conditioning continues to lag the strength increases. I need more volume but the conditioning isn't there.
I had decent calves back in the day but I ran a bunch of marathons in my 40s and they disappeared. Also they really need to be stretched out, hammies are tight too, this machine seems to really force the stretch. I'm going to give them some designated attention.
Weight is 197.4 this morning, it's drifting down slowly and I'm not going to stop it. I'm eating clean getting over 200g of protein a day, getting plenty of nutrition and for me at this point I'm just restimulating old growth so I don't really need to overeat and I don't like this being soft.
As long as I'm progressing I'll let things tighten up.
Just a couple quick comments. I am so glad that I only started with 135 on the Deads. Yesterday I felt like I was hit by a train. No wonder no one does Deads. Feel great today.
Secondly, the T-Bar rows do hit right in that area that I needed rhomboids, lower traps and thoracic spine. If that area need attention, I'd highly recommend that movement.
This morning was conditioning, 18 times up the sledding hill with the 40lb vest. Been 2 weeks, lost a little wind but the squats made my legs stronger so that made up for it and still got 18. 20 is the goal.
Since I missed some workouts getting my son back home, I decided to deload the upper body which I haven't done in 5 months, so this afternoon I worked on the flat bench setup. Throughout years prior to the accident I've benched with dumbbells but I need to put the flat bench back in. It's literally been over 10 years best I can figure. Getting into the setup seemed pretty good and finding the groove seemed good too. I focused on paused benches 5 sets of ten and then a burnout set of paused benches. Tiny weights. The only thing I'm not sure about is the grip width. Ring finger on the ring felt good maybe a hair narrow, I tried a finger wider at the end but by then I was too much into it to tell for feel. I'll tweak that next time
And then paused Close grip bench, thumb just on the smooth. What a great movement.
And I still like the dumbbell bench with the neutral grip for the stretch which really puts the emphasis on the chest and the good news on that is that our gym is getting new dumbbells from 5 to 110lbs, so finally 5 lb increments AND dumbbells that don't stick to your clothes.
So those three movements, but I'm not sure how I'm going to program the movements.
Then I went to Overhead press to check that for programming a push day and it just doesn't work for me. I need a separate day for Overhead press, when I'm fresh.
I definitely prefer the 4 day split 1.Chest/Pulldowns - 2.Deads/T-bar rows - 3.Shoulders/arms/abs - 4.Squats/calves. And the conditioning work on the hill.
Will start the push back up on the upper body on Sunday, that will be a solid 10 days of deload. I don't really know what the consensus is today for deloading, but 10 days for soft tissue healing seemed to work and I needed it. Here at 7-8 days things are just starting to calm down. Interesting thing about deloading it actually got worse before it got better.
Woke up today dreading the morning conditioning work. Wasn't recovered from the friday Squat workout and dreaded hitting that hill. Thank God for training partners who make you keep your commitments.
40lb vest 20 flights up the sledding hill and this hill is no joke:
Embarrassment:
I think the way that you deal with embarrassment is to (eventually) face it head on. So full disclosure, it is true that the other day I was deloading and it was true that I was working on the Bench press form on paused benches. It's also true that I hadn't done flat barbell bench in over 12 years. I started with the bar and worked up to 135 and could only get 7 paused reps. I was too embarrassed to disclose it.
So with that out of the way afternoon was Bench and Pulldowns great workout, WE HAD A BLAST.
I hadn't done Pulldowns since the 4th and the first set caused severe pain in the areas that I was experiencing tendonitis prior to the deload. So I decided to stay light at 120 and slowly rebuild, by the second working set the pain was completely gone.
DB Bench
60X12,8,8,7
CG Pulldowns
120X10,12,12,9
Notes:
I wasn't sure how to program the close grip bench and the dumbbell bench. So I decided to do the close grip bench with the triceps on the Overhead Press day. My thinking is I can't get a second Bench day in so this will at least get me under the bar twice a week. The Dumbbell bench feels like a perfect finishing exercise but we'll see because I like the Close grip bench after regular benching as well.
I had the forearm position checked in the paused position with the ring finger on the ring and it was reported as vertical. Feels a little narrow to me but the shoulders like it so I'll give it some time.
It was a great great session!!! We literally left the gym smiling.
Found a Buddy Caps Texas Power bar for a good price so I ordered it. I was pretty sure that I had a Texas Power Bar but when I picked up my weights I noticed that the sleeve was bolted. It's probably a bench bar with a 600lb test but the idea of dropping Deads with it, well I want a quality bar. I don't know that the Texas power bar is the best today, but it's a bar I have tremendous confidence in so it was a no brainer for me.
I had been trying to figure out why I developed problems in the elbow region and the free weight preacher curl was the cause. I had added this movement a few weeks ago but hadn't done it since. Once I felt the strain, I dropped the weight just put fives on the bar to evaluate the movement and what it is is that this bench puts me in a position that causes slight hyper extension of the elbows. So that movement is gone but I did move over to the machine preacher curl and that is very friendly to the elbows so I might keep that instead although I prefer free weight so we'll see. On the barbell curls I kept the weight at 50lbs because I wanted to baby the elbows as I was still feeling a little strain, just being careful. I like that I added the close grip bench to the tricep day, but I think I'd rather do it before the pressdowns because they killed my lockout. Not sure I need the bent over lat raises when I'm doing the T-bar rows. I need to tidy things up be a little more economical, get this programming down so I can start grinding it out. I'm close though.
Weight this morning was 195.4. Since I shifted the programming focus to putting in the main movements, during this transition where I'm ramping up and really not yet able to grind it out, I pulled back the intake a little. As I mentioned before for some reason now that I'm in much better shape than when I started 5.5 month ago, NOW the fact that I'm a bit soft bothers me, so I'm taking advantage of this window to lean up a little.
Notes:
A little gassed on the deads and the fatigue carried over to the T-bar with the hardest part being keeping tight when holding the position. Need to be patient on the structural conditioning. Slow and steady wins the race.
Notes: Elbow pain almost gone. On the bench the lockout is weak. It'll catch up. Got to be careful to not move up too fast and compromise the form. Grinding is ok, cheating is not.
After lecturing my daughter on the importance of sleep as she heads into finals, I stayed up with her till 1:15 watching a movie and was really dragging for the morning conditioning session on the hill. I actually called it at 18 times up the hill but rested a bit at the top and was able to grind out 20 with the 40lb vest.
Afternoon session:
DB overhead press (standing)
20X10
30X10
40X10
50X10
60X5,4,3 A very ugly rep PR
40X20 this felt too light now for volume
45X9,8
CG Bench (Paused)
95X10
115X10
135X10
155X8,8,5,5
95X12
Superset with
Barbell curl
50X10
60X10
70X10
80X10
90X4
100X3
60X15
Triceps pressdowns(rope) 5sets
Superset with
Alternate dumbell curls 5sets
Weighted incline Abs 25lb plate
16/10/4 last set to failure
Notes: I prefer 3 days of rest after the bench day to do the overhead press day, but I'm having trouble fitting things in.
A tendon on the inside of the elbows flared up, from the pulldowns on Friday, I think it's the close grip attachment I was using which is real narrow, I'll trouble shoot that at the next pulldown workout.
Hell of a time programming the conditioning work and the deads and squats. I haven't done squats in 9 days.
For myself I think it's bad form to call PRs until I plateau on a movement, personal choice.
I was going back and forth on this but I replaced the machine preacher curls with the alternate dumbell curls, as much as anything, getting the dumbells in position for the overhead press and the DB bench is a challenge and these will help. But wherever I can I prefer free weights. Haven't done them for a while, used to be my favorite, still love that movement.
They dragged me out of bed this morning. Inhaled a coffee protein shake, took one for the road, downed a banana and off to the sledding hill.
40lb vest 20 flights just under 47 minutes, no problem this time.
Afternoon:
Bench (paused)
95X10
135X10
185X9
205X4,4,3,3
185X4,5,4,3
Dumbell Bench
60X18,12,8
All superset with:
Pulldowns:
100X10
120X10
140X10
160X8
180X4 drop set 160X2
160X8,6,6,6,5,8,6,6,6,4
Notes:
Didn't do the CG pulldown to see if that is the culprit on the tendonitis on the inside elbow. Not sure, might be the Bench.
Now the weight on the Bench is finally sufficient where breaking form impedes execution. So instead of a pump set I decided to drop the weight just a little and do 4 additional working sets keeping it in the groove. That I'm doing my top sets with 205 makes me want to bash my head against the wall. Wait did I say that out loud? Take that frustration and direct it towards progress.
Programming remains a problem in terms of getting the Squats and Deads in and keeping the conditioning work on the hill. I'm going to back off on the volume and see if I can do those in succession. Next couple days, we'll see.
Notes:
2 weeks since the last Squat session is way to long. Lowered the reps and went a little heavier just to feel the weight, just need to slowly creep up and get used to it.
Yesterday's weight was 193.4, so even though that is not a primary focus, leaning up is going well.
A.M. Conditioning work 40lb vest on the hill. Drove up the hill as fast as I could. Mr. Pukie was knocking on the door after the 10th run up so I shut it down.
P.M.
Paused Bench:
138X8
185X6
205X4
225X1,2,1
185X7,6,5
135X12
Dumbbell Bench:
60X13,8,10
Superset with:
Pulldowns:
100X10
120X10
140X10
160X8,8,6,6
C.G. Pulldowns:
120X10
140X10
160X6,6,10
Notes:
Feeling weak today, I think the weight loss is starting to take it's toll, it's either not enough food, or not enough rest. But I know to just grind it out now. I decided to at least test 225 on the Bench so that was good.
I've decided not to make adjustments to the diet. For this immediate phase of the journey I've decided that the focus will be to get strong AND lean. I have no interest in getting ripped, but until I can clearly see the abs, I'm going to let the fat keep stripping off.
Notes:
13 days since the last deadlift session, very hard to find the groove with this little frequency. Did touch and go high reps with 135 just to find the groove. Started feeling good midway on that last set.
Notes:
Fatigue from yeasterdays Deads and the T-bar rows made stability on the DB overhead press tough. 10 days since the last arm day and my arms continue to suffer for it. However, today completes the first week in which I got all the programming in. To do that I had to back off on the volume of the conditioning work but we're already building that back up. I feel like we're turning the corner here. Now to start pecking away at the work capacity on the top sets. Meal plan is still tight, got to get the fat off, maybe 6-7lbs more, still got a little time, but at some point we got to start feeding the muscles for progress.
I'm loving this Journey. I went through all the same things trying to figure things out again when I came back to the weights. I did all this in my basement (hence Cellardweller) before I started my own journey though. This was when I was just lurking here. Mark my words, in 6 months you will be a different man. You will have figured out your lifts and your body and will be making great gains in strength and size. Train as much with your kids as you can and stay up watching movies with them too LOL. It's all good for you.
Strength doesn't come from physical capacity. It comes from indomitable will. -Gandhi
You cannot dream yourself into a character. You must hammer and forge yourself into one. -Thoreau