I'm a 53 year old guy who likes picking heavy things up, and putting them down. I'll blog about my progress here.
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Bench: Building Strength
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Squats: Building Strength
Squats: 135x10, 225x2x5, 275x5, 315x5, 345x3, 360x3x3
My initial calculations called for a final warmup of 335, but when I mathed it out in the gym it seemed like too big a jump. I had good speed on the 360, even though it was hard. I've got a bad case of bacne right now, and it was hard to get the bar in the right spot, leading me to tip forward and back and couple of times. However, 3+ plates a side has annihilated that issue, so I should be GTG for Friday, I'll add another 10 lbs.
Friday, August 26, 2016
Bench: Building Strength
Fri, 26 Aug 16
Bench: 135x20, 185x10, 205x10, 225x5, 235x8
Went well. Last reps were hard, so I'll only add 5.
Deadlifts: Feeling out the 1RM
Deadlifts: 135x5, 225x5, 315x5, 365x3, 405x1
Did all my lifts sumo, and tried (for some stupid reason) to do a conventional deadlift, to see if it would fly off the floor. Well, I started to come off the floor and pulled my left adductor. I tried to pull a 425 sumo after and couldn't. I'm not terribly disappointed as this is an improvement overall, and had I not pulled that muscle I might have hit the 425. The only *real* issue I have with sumo is that it doesn't really lend itself well to grip and rip.
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Squats: Building Strength
Squats: 135x10, 225x2x5, 275x2x5, 315x5, 350x3x3
The 350 triples were heavy, but pretty fast. I feel comfortable adding another 10 lbs.
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Bench: Building Strength
Ties, 23 Aug 16
Bench: 135x2x10, 185x2x5, 205x2x5, 225x8
I did a machine upper body workout at noon. All high rep pumpy-style stuff. Focus on delts and triceps.
No problems with the bench press. I'll add 10 more pounds.
Monday, August 22, 2016
Squats: Building Strength
Squats: 135x10, 225x2x5, 275x2x5, 315x5, 340x3x3
It's been a little over a week after my first attempt at this set of numbers. This time I felt fine, and managed to power my way through it with ease. I will add another 10 lbs.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Bench/Squats: Building Strength (high rep)
Bench: 135x20, 155x2x10, 170x2x10, 180x2x10
Squats: 145x10, 195x10, 235x10, 250x2x10, 235x10
Phew! I've been feeling crappy and out of the groove. I decided to go hi-rep and help grease the groove/get my muscles and joints moving.
Sunday, August 14, 2016
Squats: Building Strength
Sun, 14 Aug 16
Squats: 135x10, 225x2x5, 275x2x5, 315x5, 340x3, 1
Couldn't finish, felt awful.
Friday, August 12, 2016
Deadlifts: Building Strength
Deadlifts: 225x3x5, 315x3x3, 355x3x2, 375x4x2
Goal was 8 reps at 375, hit it with doubles. I'll add 10 more pounds next session as the RPE was a good 8 - and by the time I DL next I should be able to have hit that for a 6 or 7 RPE.
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Bench: Building Strength (High rep)
Bench: 135x20, 155x2x10, 170x2x10, 180x2x10
Last set was hardish - I'll do it again.
Squats: Building Strength (High rep)
Squats: 145x10, 195x10, 235x10, 250x2x10, 235x10, 195x10, 145x10
That was hard! The second set at 250 got a bit slower after the fifth rep. As in - phew, pant pant, squat, phew, pant pant pant.... squat.... etc. I'm actually sort of glad I decided to do the high rep work this way, because if I am too tired I only miss out on a 145 set, and it feels like an empty bar at 145!
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Bench: Building Strength
Bench: 140x2x10, 170x2x5, 200x2x5, 220x8
Did a machine workout at noon. I managed all 8 reps in one set, although the last one was slowwww.
Monday, August 8, 2016
Squats: Building Strength
Squats: 135x10, 225x10, 265x2x5, 315x2x5, 340x3x3
I'm torn on this one. I upped the warmup weights 5 and 10 lbs to help with plate loading time. I *did* manage to get 3x3 on the work set, but I'd be lying if I had anymore than a rep left in the tank each time. My right hip and left quad really felt beat up by the end. I think I'll do a machine workout tomorrow to get the blood flowing, and a high rep session on Weds.
Friday, August 5, 2016
Squats: Building Strength
Squats: 135x10, 225x10, 260x2x5, 305x2x5, 340x4x2
Good session. My top sets were all doubles and were an RPE of 7-8. I think I'll leave this the way it is and see if I can hit 3 triples or 2 fours next time before bumping up the weight.
Thursday, August 4, 2016
Bench: Building Strength
Thurs, 4 Aug 16
Bench: 135x2x10, 165x2x5, 195x2x5, 215x8
Super easy. Did all 8 reps at once. I'll add 5 more next session. I don't want to rush and hurt myself.
Squats: Building Strength (high rep)
Squats: 135x10, 185x10, 225x10, 240x2x10, 225x10, 185x10, 135x10
Fast, snappy and OMG is my back ever fatigued. I imagine I can safely add 10 next session - although I might have to dial the rest up slightly, as the fatigue factor was pretty intense.
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
Bench: Building Strength (High rep)
Wed, 3 Aug 16
Bench: 135x20, 150x2x10, 165x2x10, 175x2x10
Pretty easy.
Deadlifts: Building Strength
Deadlifts: 225x3x5, 290x3x3, 340x3x2, 365x8x1
I forgot to increase the deadlift top set weight. It went quite well though, fast with good hip thrust. I required only about a minute between reps for the work set.
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Squats: Building Strength
Squats: 135x10, 225x10, 250x2x5, 295x2x5, 330x2x3, 330x2
The foundation has been laid and I'm now moving back into doubles and triples. The goal is to hit 8 reps at the top weight, whatever way I can get there. Once I can hit an easy pair of triples without excessive dying I will add weight. Today met that criteria, and I will be adding 10 lbs next day. I had some extra time so I did a bunch of lat pulldowns on the machine.
Monday, August 1, 2016
Bench/Squats: Building Strength
I'm now moving into a strength-based training scenario, having put a decent base back on my lifts. So, heavy low rep days and light high rep days will now be the norm. I will do a little accessory work if I have time. Today I was home, so I had a lot of time to kill and put close to an hour and a half in.