Monday, May 29, 2017

Leg day, not too bad

Mon, 29 May 17

Squats: 135x10, 225x10, 315x4x5
Leg Press (plates): 6x15, 8x2x12
Leg Extension: 130x15, 160x12, 190x12
Kettlebell swings: 25x5x20

Everything felt good.  I did the squats raw, no wraps or belt, just shoes.  There definitely is either better mental comfort or actual bounce with the wraps/sleeves, but I thought I should get some raw work in as well, since the weight is so "light".  I ran through 3 working sets on the other leg work, then since I had a little time left upped the weight on the kettlebell by 5 pounds and cranked out 100 reps.  (10 both hand, 5 each left and right)

Friday, May 26, 2017

Pull day

Fri, 26 May 17

Deadlift: 225x10 (2 plate deficit, conventional), 225x10 (1, c), 225x2x8 (sumo), 315x5x5
Chins: bwx10, 8, 8
Rows: 0
Kettlebell swings: 20 lb bell, 10 both hands, 5 right, 5 left, by 5 sets total.

I really tired myself out before I got to the rows.  I tried to do a plate a side, but my back was so fatigued it just felt like crap.  I decided to punish myself with an exercise I could do, and is sort of a pull, the kettlebell swings.  Rather than do 30 swings by 3 sets, which really kills me and the last few reps have no glute pop at all, I decided to do 20x5.  It was still hard from the pump and cardio, but not as bad as the sets of 30.  I'll have to get my camera out at some point to show what these buggers do to my legs - and why it gets so hard to move by the end of a set.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Push day, better than last week!

Weds, 24 May 17

Bench: 135x10, 185x2x5, 205x5, 225x3x5
Behind the neck ez-bar tricep push: 50x2x15, 70x3x5, 30x20
Seated Incline Smith Press (weight on bar): 90x3x5, 50x3x15
Pec Deck: 100x15, 130x15, 160x10, 190x5

My shoulder was not super happy with the benching - I had trouble, as usual, hitting depth.  I think I will keep the bench on a strength trend for now, but do a bunch of smith pressing, etc. for the aesthetics.  My shoulder, much like my knees with squatting, need some regular heavy work to ensure I can hit depth.  Once I start dropping the weight on the bar I don't have as much resistance against my muscle resistance, and the depth ends up being not so hot.

Put a heavy ass weight on the bar and it will force you to hit depth.



Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Legs day

Tues, 23 May 17

Squats: 135x10, 225x10. 315x10, 8, 4
Leg Press (plates): 6x3x15
Leg extension: 100x15, 130x15, 160x15, 190x15

Much better session than the upper body one on the weekend.  Pushing out 10 reps at 315 was REALLY hard.  I knew at the end of that set that it would be a challenge to hit 10 reps again.  That being said - I started out with 3x5 3 weeks and 1 day ago.  So, that's 15 reps vs 22. The cardio (walked with a little running 7k on the weekend) showed me that even though I *feel* mostly normal, there is some residual crap still going on in my lungs.  Breathing was difficult, and I ended up coughing after cardio.

Bench,.meh

Sun. 21 May 17

Wasn't into it today. Ended up doing a bunch of bench, sets of 15 reps, like a plate a side.  At one point I wasn't paying attention and walked right into the barbell. Fortunately I smashed it into the most perfect spot - just above the bridge of my nose. Hurt like crazy, and I expected blood, but it just swelled up. Life went on.

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Heavy squats and leg press (405 max)

Thurs, 18 May 17

Squats: 135x10, 225x5, 315x5, 365x3, 385x2, 405x1, 385x2, 365x3, 315x5
Leg press (plates): 4x10, 6x5, 8x5, 10x5, 12x3, 14x1

Felt strong today.  Squats were good and I even did some back off sets.  Then I did leg press and actually hit 14 plates (2 shy of the whole stack lol).

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Heavy pull day (425 max)

Weds, 17 May 17

Deadlifts:  225x2x5, 315x5, 365x3, 405x2, 425x1, 405x2, 365x5
Chins: 2x10
Pull up: 1x5

Decided to throw a heavy deadlift day in just for fun.  I'm going to do a leg day tomorrow and some stuff over the long weekend.  I'm off Fri, and Mon is a holiday, so I'm going to get some sessions at home and maybe even go for a walk around the lake.

425 was pretty well max effort - I failed on the first attempt due to grip, so I took a couple of minutes, chalked and went at it again.  Then did some descending sets to finish up.

Overall my breathing capacity "feels" normal.  I saw a few stars on the top sets, but didn't feel faint.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Push Day - Improving

Tues, 16 May 17

Bench: 135x10, 185x2x10, 205x10, 205x3x8
Seated Incline Press: 50x15, 70x15, 70x10, 70x2x8, 50x10, 40x10, 20x10
Deltoid Raise: 30x20, 50x15, 65x3x12

Much better session today. I really worked to fatigue, and was very impressed by my work capacity on the seated Smith machine.  I really liked the lat engagement on it. Blows me away to see my lats engage and flare out.  Pounded my triceps and delts until they couldn't move.

Monday, May 15, 2017

Leg day - recovering still

Mon, 15 May 17

Squats: 135x10, 225x5, 315x3x5
SLDL: 135x12, 225x3x8
Kettlebell swings: 25x3x30 (10 both, 10 left, 10 right)
Leg extension: 95x15, 110x15, 130x15, 160x10, 190x10

Squats weren't too bad, but I had a big cyst somewhere and had to use the pad as it was really hurting. (didn't break though).  I did better on the SLDL - endurance was a little better, swings, and managed much more weight on the leg extensions.  No coughing fits today, but I still feel a little short of breath.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Push day

Wed, 10 May 17

Bench: 135x2x5, 185x2x5, 205x5x5
CGBP: 95x12, 115x2x12
Military Shoulder Press: 95x10, 115x8, 95x5, 65x12, 85x8
Delt machine press: 10x15, 20x15, 30x15

Bench press was a little hard at first - right shoulder was having trouble at the bottom of the movement, over the course of the sets it loosened up enough to be able to do the work sets.  Close grip work was lighter then I had hoped - I had to drop the weight considerably to get the high reps.  Military shoulder press was quite hard - I had to mess around with the weight a lot.  Finished up with some deltoid machine press work - once again, it's humbling how light this needs to be to actually get your elbows up to shoulder height without engaging a bunch of other muscles.  I'm sure I could move more if I engaged my traps and threw the weight up - but the goal is to get boulder shoulders.  My traps are "fairly" developed already due to all the powerlifting stuff.

Went back to the doctor last night and was given a different puffer - he said I have bronchitis and ventolin puffer I was taking really wasn't doing me any good.  He put me on Symbicort, which definitely provided an improvement.  I was still coughing a bit while working out, and was definitely weaker and short of breath, but overall I see an improvement in the rest of my day.


Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Pull day

Tues, 9 May 17

Rows: 135x2x12, 185x3x12
Chins: bwx3x10
Deadlift: 225x2x5 (s), 225x2x5 (c), 315x3x5

I ended up not getting a spot to deadlift in right away as I was sharing a rack with someone doing landmine rows.  So I started out with alternating upright rows and chins.  I then moved to deadlifts.  I was coughing my brains out and sweat was pouring off me, so I ended up stopping after 3 sets of deadlifts.  I really concentrated on exploding off the floor - maximum effort.

Monday, May 8, 2017

Light day, still getting over whatever I had

Mon, 8 May 17

I went to the duty doctor's on Friday after work and he put me on antibiotics and a ventolin puffer.  I feel *mostly* normal, but still have a bit of a cough.  I decided to just do a machine workout today.

Leg press: 4 plates x15 narrow, 4 plates x15 wide, 6 plates x 10, 8 plates x 10, 10 plates x 2 x 5
Leg extension: 100x15, 130x15, 160x15, 190x2x10
Ez-Curl bar - Tricep extensions seated, curl seated, upright row standing : 40x15, 50x15, 60x2x15

I decided to use my puffer before working out, which actually triggered a long bout of coughing.  I fatigued fairly quickly in the gym, but managed to get some work in.



Friday, May 5, 2017

I haven't given up lifting, just been sick.

Fri, 5 May 17

I did manage to work out on Monday, but the rest of the week has been a write off.  I woke up with a sore throat, and it ended up in my chest shortly thereafter.  Stayed home Tues and Wed (rare for me).

It's Friday and I still feel like deep fried dog crap.

Monday, May 1, 2017

PPL: Leg Day: setting up

Mon, 1 May 17

I'm tapering off the diet and starting to ramp up the PPL program.  I took a look at the program, then gave it a shot with perceived numbers.  Way off lol.

Squats: 135x10, 225x5, 315x3x5 - plan was 5x5 with rest/pause on the last set.  It was way beyond my current level of endurance, keeping the rests short.

SLDL: 135x8, 225x3x5 - plan was 225x3x12 but wow, that's a lot of work.

Leg Extensions: 70x15, 90x15, 110x3x15 - I initially thought I'd be able to do these with a weight of 190 or so, but no way.  By the time I got to the work sets my quads were so pumped up and burning that I almost had to pound and massage them before the next set.

I will work my way up to the required sets over the next little bit.  The combination of shorter rest intervals and a faster tempo make for a taxing workout.  I will have to build my endurance up over the next few weeks to accomodate this.  I expect it will get easier as I return my calories to a more normal level.  I'm only running about 1500-1800 cals, so it's very tough to do an endurance type workout vs the heavy lifting burst of energy type.

The payout is in the look though, and I've been taking progress pics - we'll see where I'm at in a month.