Deadlifts: Back to Basics

Sun, 31 Jul 16

RDL (deficit): 135x3x10

Sumo Deadlift: 135x10, 225x3x5, 280x3x3, 330x3x2, 365x2x3, 365x2

Went well. Goal was 8 reps at the top.  Good speed, no grinding.  Belt and chalk only. 

Squats: Back to Basics

Fri, 29 Jul 16

Squats: 135x10, 225x2x5, 275x2x5, 295x5, 315x2, 325x5x5

 

I should be able to add 10 lbs next session.  I'm running into a time crunch though.  This is taking me about 40 minutes, and I need to keep it no longer than that.  I think if I drop the warmups back to one set each that will be enough to get me warm, especially while wearing my wraps "loose" - which is keeping my knees warm.

Bench/Squats: Back to Basics

Thurs, 28 Jul 16

Bench: 135x2x5, 185x2x5, 205x2x5, 225x5, 235x2, 245x5, 235x4x5

Squats (high rep): 135x2x10, 225x2x10, 255x2x10, 225x2x10,  135x2x10

Bench weight is too heavy for 5x5. Dropped back by 10.  Squats were snappy and fast. Felt like hard cardio!

Bench: Back to Basics (high rep)

Wed, 27 Jul 16

Bench: 135x2x10, 160x2x10, 170x2x10, 160x2x10, 150x2x10

Went really well. I'll add another 5 lbs next session.

Squats: Back to Basics

Tues, 26 Jul 16

Squats: 135x10, 225x2x5, 275x2x5, 295x5, 315x2, 325x5x5

Today's session was an improvement over last weeks.  Definitely feels like max effort - I'm going to go with one more session at this weight this week and see what happens.

 

Bench: Back to Basics

Sun, 24 Jul 16

Bench: 135xx210, 185x2x5, 205x2x5, 225x2x5, 235x2x3, 245x1x2

Failed on the second 245.

Deadlifts: Back to Basics

Fri, 22 Jul 16

Sumo Deadlifts:  225x2x10, 315x2x5, 345x5, 365x2
Conventional Deadlifts: 365x8
Deficit Sumo (1 plate): 225x2x8
Deficit Sumo (2 plates): 225x2x8

My groove got all screwed up when one of the trainers interrupted me to tell me to stop dropping the weights.  Of course, I couldn't hear her over my dropping the weights.... lol... I was setting them down under control, since I was strapped into them lol.  Anyhow, that completely messed me up and I lost my sumo groove.  I hammered out a bunch of singles and then moved onto the deficit work.  My glutes and lower back are smoked. 

Bench: Back to Basics (high rep)

Thurs, 21 Jul 16

Bench: 135x2x10, 155x2x10, 165x2x10, 155x2x10, 135x2x10

Went smoothly. I think I can add 5 lbs.

Light day, machine work.

Thurs, 21 Jul 16

Feeling pretty beat up today, mostly in my adductors and glutes.  Decided to do high rep, medium weight pump work to stretch and get the blood flowing.  I'll do light bench tonight. 

All exercises were 3x15.  Body weight 45 deg hip extension, seated leg press, seated leg extension, seated leg curl, seated lat pulldowns, one armed cable chest flyes, pec deck.

Bench: Back to Basics

Wed, 20 Jul 16

Bench: 135x10, 185x2x5, 205x2x5, 225x2x5, 235x2x3, 245x2x2, 255x2x1, 265xx1

Went well.  I'll take 265 with a slingshot.  On my way back towards 300 lbs.

Squats: Back to Basics

Wed, 20 Jul 16

Squats: 135x10, 225x2x5, 295x2x5, 395x5, 315x2, 325x5x5

Good session.  Added 10 lbs to the bar and powered through.  The last set was hard but didn't get grindy. It was more like fast singles lol.  (enough time to take a deep breath at the top)  I will bench heavy tonight.

Bench: Back to Basics (high rep)

Tues, 19 Jul 16

Bench: 135x2x10, 155x2x10, 165x2x10, 155x2x10, 135x2x10

Forgot to post this last night.  Did my light, high rep bench workout.  No problem.  165 is just on the edge of being too much for 10 reps right now, so the weight is good.

Bench: Back to Basics (remedial)

Mon, 18 Jul 16

Bench: 135x10, 155x10, 175x10,  185x2x5, 195x2x5, 185x5, 185x3, 175x5

Phew! I decided to add some more bench today.  I'm going to see if (nearly) every day benching helps.  I'll mix it up between heavy low reps and high rep lighter stuff.

Squats: Back to Basics (and a little max testing)

Mon, 18 Jul 16

Squats: 135x10, 225x5, 275x5, 315x5, 340x1, 365x1, 315x2x5

I tested my squat back on July 9, and it was 355 and grindy.  Today was 365 and smooth.  I added another 20 after that, but didn't feel confident, so I racked it and did some back off sets.  Those 2 sets at 315 were pretty "easy", so I will up the weight to 325 next.  I'm thinking of trying some every 2nd day squatting, say heavy/light, and benching at home every day or two.  I'm going to really drive the high reps on the bench and work and making 135 seem effortless again for sets of 20, and hitting reps of 8 again on the bench with 225.

Bench: Back to Basics

Fri, 15 Jul 16

Bench: 135x3x10, 160x3x10, 185x3x5

Kept it simple and snappy.  I've dropped back and will move forward. Finished with a bunch of other upper body stuff.

Bench/Pull Ups: Back to Basics

Thurs, 14 July 16

Bench: 135x2x10, 175x2x5, 205x5,5,5,2
Pull Ups: Bwx3x5

No real improvement.  I think I have to up the frequency and start benching 3 or more times a week.  I'll have to figure out a scheme that doesn't stress out my shoulders.

Squats: Back to Basics

Weds, 13 July 16


Squats: 135x10, 225x2x5, 275x5, 295x3, 315x5x5

I dropped a few sets of the warm ups, and the squats felt pretty good.  I had to take a breath on the last rep of two of the sets, but overall much easier.  I'm going to keep it the same one more session, then add 10 lbs. 

Deadlifts: Back to Basics

Fri, 8 July 16

Sumo Deadlifts: 225x2x10, 315x2x5, 365x3x2
Conventional Deadlifts: 385x6x1
Sumo 1 Plate Deficits: 225x2x8
Sumo 2 Plate Deficits: 225x2x8

Alright, here's what my last deadlift day looked like: 225x4x5, 315x4x5, 365x3x1, 315x2x5 53 reps last week (15045 lbs) vs 58 reps this week (18090 lbs).  That's a difference of 3045 lbs, or a 17% increase.  I'm pretty happy with that, especially since I was lifting sumo for most of the session.  I did some reading over the past few weeks and decided to take a more narrow stance.  Essentially a deadlift version of my squat.  This really seemed to help me get my hips into position, and allowed me to keep my torso more upright - but contrary to my past experiences with sumo - this didn't seem to be a hip only movement.

Squats: Back to Basics

Thurs, 7 July 16


Squats: 135x2x5, 225x2x5, 275x2x5, 295x2x3, 315x5x5

Went well.  The squats felt heavy, and were very hard.  It took a good 45 minutes to finish, but I was yapping with the only guy in the gym I ever saw move 6 plates.  (deadlifting)  I may keep this another weight another session or two until it feels dialed in, then add another 10 lbs.  I'm in no rush, and I want a good stable base.  It does me no good to be able to lift a pile of heavy singles, but lack the muscles and connective tissue to move multiple reps.

Bench/Pull Ups: Back to Basics

Wed, 6 July 16

Bench: 135x2x10, 155x2x5, 175x2x5, 195x5, 205x5,4,5,3 135x2x10
Pull Ups: Bwx5x5

Started off supersetting the bench and pull ups.  This may have been a bad idea - I started to get weaker during the bench work sets, and couldn't get all my sets and reps.  Did a couple of sets of 135 at the end.  Did 35 reps on the pec deck, 40 reps on the crossover cable flyes, and 35 reps on the lat pulldowns.  It's obvious (now) I'm going to have to drop back on the bench a bit - say 195 and work my way back up.

Light day: Machine Work

Tues, 5 July 16

I decided to squeeze a light, pumpy machine day in since I've been ramping up the free weight volume.  I did between 30-50 reps of each using sets of about 10.  Weighted glute bridges, Seated overhead smith machine presses, pec deck, incline pivot row thingy, crossover cable flyes, single arm cable flyes, seated pulley rows, incline hip extensions, seated leg extensions.  Jogged to and from the gym.  About 50 minutes of total activity and I was pretty beat when I got back to the office.

Squats: Back to Basics

Mon, 4 Jul 16

Squats: 135x2x10, 225x2x5, 275x2x5, 315x5,4,5,4,5

Phew!  I had a hard time hitting the reps on those squats - they were draining.  I'll redo them until I get 5 across.  There was a moment while I was saying to myself, "self, maybe we should do ramping sets leading up to two top sets..."  But then I thought to myself, really, I'm going to build the most mass and strength if I hang in there and pound away at that weight until it feels (relatively) easy.

Bench/Pull ups: Back to Basics

Sun, 3 Jul 16

Bench: 135x2x10, 185x2x5, 205x4x5
Pull ups: bwx5x5

Couldn't get the last set of bench, redo next day.

Squats: Back to Basics

Sat, 2 July 16

Squats: 135x10, 225x2x5, 275x2x5, 295x2x3...

Squat walkouts: 315x3x15 (sec), 365x3x10 (sec), 405x3x10 (sec), 445x3x10 (sec), 495x3x10 (sec)...

Squats: 305x3x5, 3.

Worked out from home today. My small belt really digs into the fat below the navel lol.  Did really well in the walkouts, no dizziness.  Once I got back into the squats the belt really became painful and I ended up messing around with it and ended up stopping.  I'll redo it without the walkouts next time.

Bench/Row: Back to Basics

Fri, 1 July 16

Bench: 135x3x5, 185x3x5, 205x5x5
Bench Static holds: 225x3x15 sec, 275x3x10 (sec), 315x3x5 (sec)
One arm dumbbell rows: 50x2x10, 70x2x10
Lat pulldowns: 45x2x15, 90x3x15
Tricep pushdowns: 45x3x15

It's a holiday today so I'm working out from home.  I got pretty sweaty and had a hard time keeping from sliding on the bench, but the strength was there.  Tried a few static holds - but that's where the slipperiness really became apparent.  I didn't feel like barbell rows as I had torn some calluses and opened a blood blister yesterday, and my hands were a little tender.  I wrapped a small towel around the dumbbell handle and did some strict db rows.  Did some seated lat pulldowns.  Finished up with some tricep pushdowns.