The hack squat machine can be hard on your knee. Hope all is well. And dude, 56 reps with 185? Crazy volume. You'll be lean and jacked if you keep that up.
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
Notes:
I was careful given the recent knee strain, but I think that's the first triple I did with 275 since I've started back up. Knees felt great. Left a lot in the tank, didn't even feel like I worked out.
Morning weight 188.8. Breaking 188 has become a thorn in my side. It's going down!!!
Notes: Big jump, I don't know what happened. I was scheduled for 240X10X5sets, but when I pulled 135 it felt like I was pulling the bar, when I hit 225 for 10 with speed I was like you got to jump. I'll bake at 275 for a while to get sound structurally, but these developments are very encouraging to me given my age. Because while I don't dwell on it in the back of your head you wonder, will I still respond. I really don't wonder about that now. Now it's: just don't get hurt.
Wasn't feeling the gym today, hit the sledding hill with the 40lb vest for 14 flights and walked 3 times for a total of 7 miles. Figured lets keep pushing on leaning up. I'll get a weight tomorrow.
One thing for sure I do not like this feeling small. As you strip the fat away you do lose a lot of volume, it's a little unnerving. And clearly the muscles have not enjoyed the deficit while I'm pushing them. So I do look forward to finishing up the leaning up process and getting back to an anabolic meal plan. But I have no interest in repeating this extensive of a leaning up process. In the last 19 weeks I've taken off about 15lbs which is about a 400 calorie daily deficit. Prior to that I lost 10 lbs at a slower pace. It's no fun.
And now it's literally 31 days to go and I remove the deficit, but while I'm very interested in gaining lean muscle, I have no interest in gaining fat and 400 calories does not allow for indiscriminate intake. It's got to be measured, discipline must remain. But I am looking forward to the extra food.
Notes:
We're working now. Skipped the accessory day because I need to bench on wed. Programming remains challenging and the changes are being forced on me in that I simply can not pull everything off. I need to stay focused on good programming for the main lifts.
Notes:
Very happy with how the Squats are going, it's just a matter of getting them in. I was having fun for sure.
Wanted to bench in the morning but my forearms were screaming with the warm up so I shut it down. It's a programming problem, I want to bench every 5 days but I can't do Pulldowns and then T-bar rows 2-3 days apart. Either I'll alternate or drop the pulldowns, just hit back every 5 days and structure it so the forearms are recovered by the bench day. Maybe change the programming on the upper body to a push/pull. And I got to tuck in the weighted abs somewhere. We'll figure it out.
Notes:
Benching without a spot, sucks. I hope I did enough volume to make up for having to be cautious. Forearms are still screaming. I'm going to continue to strip the programming down to basic movements. Yesterdays weight was 186.6, 4.6lbs to go.
A.M.
Sledding hill with the 40lb Weighted vest 16 flights.
Afternoon:
T-Bar Rows:
2PX10
2P+25lbsX10
3PX10
3P+25lbsX10
4PX5X4sets
4PX6
3Px20
Walked 3 times for a total of 6 miles.
Notes: Might be better programming to do pulldowns after deadlifts and T-bar rows after Squats, as the traps and erectors are fatigued after the deadlift day not sure though. Maybe why guys handling the heavier weight gravitate toward chest supported rows, or one arm dumbell rows. On the other hand doing them back to back gives the erectors a complete break till the Squat day. And I really like the rows, forces you to stay tight.
Might need a new belt, I'm now down to the last notch on my size large Inzer.
Notes:
The bench is really starting to piss me off now. Have a conflict Wed so I had to move it up and 3 days is not enough recovery, but still. Going to put more focus on this movement, go every 4-5 days.
I thought it turned out fine and it was a pretty simple procedure. The holes are spaced out an inch, so I centered and punched it. Then I used a hammer and nail to establish a pilot. Then I put my knees on either side of it on top of a 2X6 to keep it flat and just started with a thin drill bit and moved up to the bit that I had premeasured as the right size. That was pretty easy. The tricky part is to clean up the outer suede. For that you got to come in from the inside of the belt and pull back with the bit running to clean it up. Didn't take 5 minutes.
Notes:
Rep PR at 205, which is a little encouraging as I felt the bench was lagging. Definitely can go every 4 days on the bench at least with these lighter weights, so I'll go every 4-5 days, feels like I need more time under the bar. Working without a spot, leaves a lot in the tank, but looks like the volume is making up for it. Went on a vigorous 7 hour hike on Wed over challenging terrain, so things are out of sequence. Got to get back on the Squat rack, but my legs were cramping all night after that hike so I wanted to give it a little time. Hopefully by Tuesday everything is back in.
Morning weight 185.8. 3.8lbs to go. I do not like being this small. I'll finish it, but then that's it. I'm surprised I'm getting stronger because I've definitely lost muscle.
Notes:
Had to push the Squat out as the Wed hike really strained the joints. Back on track now with the Squats, just got to keep creeping up slowly, so the structure gets used to it. Now we just got to get the deads in later this week and have everything back in. Life gets in the way and it kinda pisses me off, got to learn to take it in stride.