Training Log: Entry 610

Squats of 385+chains
5,4,3

Notes: Left my ego at the door and decided to take this slow and steady here on out.  Thinking maybe 5lb increases whenever I complete a weight, and be satisfied with 400+chains when I get there.  Form was beautiful.  Thinking about leaning back when I squat was really benefiting me.  I've lost weight, and could cinch the belt up another notch.  Bad habit I've noticed of looking to the right as I'm coming up from my last rep to make sure I rack the weight.  Stupid amatuer crap, that's gonna cause me to lose a squat.  Must keep looking forward.

Incline BP of 210
5,5,3

Notes: Not enough rest before the last set.  Man this is an awkward movement.

Chins w/25lbs
3x5

Notes: Experimenting with 2 vertical pulls + additional rear delt work.  The horizontal pulls with low weight are killing me, so I'm gonna see where this gets me.  Amazingly, not focusing on recruiting my lats seems to have recruited them quite a bit.  Wu wei.  Less thinking.

 

Circuit of
Neck harness w/45lb plate
13,9
Band ab pull down w/light+2 minis
2x25
Band throat pull w/light
15,12

Training Log: Entry 609

1.5 Miles: 13:09

Notes: 11 seconds faster.  First lap was incredible, clocked in at 1:55.  Had my posture upright and was breathing through my nose my entire time.  Been recovering very well after the run.  Sub 13 is easily in site.

Training Log: Entry 608

Squats of 385+chains
4x3

Notes: To avoid straining too hard and potentially re-injuring myself, I stuck with singles, terminating the set once things began to get a little too tough.  Increased the sets to fairly equalize the training volume, though realistically I shoulda gone for 5x3 if that was the goal.  In either case, back had no pain during squats, so that's a victory.  Focusing on spreading the floor and recruiting my glutes, which I feel are the weak link at the moment.  When I switch back to Westside, I'll be focusing on improving my glute strength, and most likely on some tendon/ligament issues.

Close grip bench press of 225+chains
3x5

Notes: Decided ultimately to go with the CG bench rather than board press, simply for the full range of motion.  Had a very long pause on every rep, still wanna train that into my bench.

Wide grip pull-ups w/30lbs
3x5

Notes: Hit this really easy.  Think the week or so off has been good for my recovery, even with running thrown in.  Might be doing more frequent vertical pulling to keep my back healthy and avoid being in a prone position, unless I saddle up with the DB rows again.  When I get back on Westside, I'll be hitting the horizontal rows again, mainly because I feel the lower weight and higher reps will be safer. 

 

Circuit of
Hise shrugs of 335
25,20
Ab pulldowns w/light+mini
2x30
Throat pulls w/light
2x12

Training Log: Entry 607

1.5 mile run: 13:20

Notes: Shaved off another 17 seconds.  Ran the first lap in 1:57.  Have been able to recover way better post run, no longer feeling like I'm gonna puke afterwards, which was really my goal from the start of this experiment.  No idea how much more time I can realistically shave off of this.  If I can get down into the 12s I'll be happy.

Back is feeling pretty recovered.  The resting at work helps I think.  They have the memory foam matresses, which might be good for recovery.  Will be squatting tomorrow, so it'll be interesting to see what happens.

Training Log: Entry 606

1.5 Miles: 13:37

Notes: As I typped this out, I realized how funny my time was.  1337.  Felt better post run than the last time, and experienced less knee/foot pain.  Focused on rolling my feet rather than stomping like I typically do when I run.  Feet didn't go numb like they usually do.  Already hit my 30 second in 4 weeks goal on my second run, don't really know what to realistically aim for.  Had to run this sub 12:30 back in ROTC, might make that my final goal.

Back when I was 152, I could run 2 miles in 12 minutes.  Pretty ridiculous.

Back is feeling better.  Work actually does a good job of rehabbing.

Training Log: Entry 605

Squats of 375+chains
3x5

Notes: Form was really crappy on last rep of last set, and felt my back twinge a little.  It's just stiff at the moment, so shouldn't impact my training.  I did however feel like puking for a half hour afterwards, and decided it was time to deload anyway, so took the rest of training off, and will deload my squats next workout.

Training Log: Entry 604

Ran today.

 

No, the world is not ending.  I have a PFT coming up in a month, and I'm tired of feeling like I'm gonna puke at the end of the run.  Will be running once a week, and hopefully performing some other supplemental type of cardio 1 other time a week (hopefully rope skipping) for the next 4 weeks and see where my performance goes.  Hopefully my squat progress will be unaffected.

1.5 Miles-14:05

Very slow, but was just trying to get my body used to running again.  Ran it with my wife, who was beating me in the last 3 laps.  Realistically, it would be nice to shave off 30 seconds.  I can probably do so just by grunting it out and sprinting the finish.

Training Log: Entry 603

Squats of 375+chains
5,3,3

Notes: Mighta been able to eek out 3x5, but with crappy form, wouldn't be worth it.  405+chains is getting close.

Wider grip pause bench of 260+chains
5,5,4

Notes: Failed on an attempted 5th rep on the final set.  The wider grip and pause has been great for my strength off the chest, but my lockout is non-existant.  Used to be the other way around.  Gonna 2 board press it, keep the weight the same and keep the chains, and see if I can keep moving onward and upward.  Should help prepare me for heavier loads when I switch to singles.

Wide grip pull-ups w/30lbs
5,4,3

Notes: Same as squats, mighta had more, but didn't wanna screw up my form.  For some reason, pull-ups always start to get heavier right around this point.  I might scale the weight back 2.5lbs and really microload this one.

 

Hise Shrugs of 335
2x20
Ab band pull downs w/light+mini
2x30

Training Log: Entry 602

Squats of 365+chains
3x5

Notes: Had a plan to hit a 5 and 2 triples, but decided to crush it.  I think I'm on the road to peaking on this routine, and I got some damn fine momentum.  Gonna ride this out, and hopefully hit 405+chains, then hit a deload or just a solid week off and consider switching routines.

Incline bench of 210
5,5,3

Notes: Have been gripping the bar too wide, so narrowed it up on second set and got better results.

Band rows w/2lights
3x10

Notes: This is doing a good job of saving my back.

 

Got a jump rope the other day.  Gonna start working my GPP a little.  Will throw in the accessory work tomorrow.

Training Log: Entry 601

Squats of 355+chains
3x5

Notes: Frequent squatting seems to be working so far, as these were some of the easiest squats in my life.  Came down fast and the weight felt like air on the way up.  Last 2 reps of last sets were the only ones with minor snags, but even then it was better than usual.  Felt like I was going than usual as well.  Hopefully this idea will pan out.

Bench press of 260+chains
5,4,4

Notes: Weight is really starting to get heavy on me, might be time to change the exercise out for board presses or something, maybe even just taking the chains off and seeing what happens.  On the plus side though, I've been really training being tense on this lift.

Wide grip pull-ups w/25lbs
3x5

Notes: Grip has been narrowing on me, so I focused on keeping it wide.  It paid off, and the my momentum picked up again.

 

Hise shrugs of 335
25,20
Ab band pull downs w/light+mini
2x25

Training Log: Entry 600

Squats of 355+chains
5,3,3

Notes: I'm really happy about this.  355 bar weight was what jacked up my back so many months ago, and now I've managed to get back to that weight plus chains with no tension whatsoever.  I've decided to squat solely as my lower bodymovement, and see what happens if I increase the frequency.

Incline bench of 205
3x5

Notes: Still trying to work the kinks out on the form on this one. Using a wider grip.

Horizontal band rows w/2lights
3x5

Notes: Staying away from any bent over work for the time being.  My back feels great, and I want to keep it that way.

 

Neck harness work with 45lb plate
Band pull aparts w/light+2minis
2x12

 

600 entries.  Where has the time gone?