Training Log: Entry 690

RE upper

Touch and go bench press of 215
20,6,5

Notes: Deload needs to come up soon.  Weight was feeling light, but my joints and ligaments are all beat up.

3-board press of 305
3x3

Notes: Touch light and control on these.  Dropping the weight into the board takes away my ability to tense.

Band flyes w/2 minis
12,12,10,8

Notes: Right shoulder was bugging me until I did these.  Good re/pre-hab.  Actually got my chest involved here by squeezing at the top of the rep.

Pull-ups
25,11,11,11,9,8

Notes: Need to start weighing these things up.  These high reps are great for my back, but my body is getting thrashed.  3 week waves sound like the best strategy.

Wide grip EZ bar curls of 75
12,10,10

Notes: Massive cheating for massive gunz.

Hise shrugs of 275
2x30

Notes: I need to work my extensor work on my grip training, as my left forearm has horrible tendonitis when I try to grip the bar here.  My fault really.  I train my grip at work, and my schedule has been real heavy, so I've been training grip too much.

 

My legs are increibly sore and not healing.  My appetite is through the roof, and I'm eating tons, but my theory is that since I haven't had any snow recently, my GPP is going down due to a lack of shoveling, and I'm also getting no active recovery.  I might just go outside and shovel snow onto my driveway and then back off at this point.

Training Log: Entry 689

RE lower

Squats of 245
15,12,10

Notes: Had a great stretch reflex here today.  My hip mobility is through the roof, and my GPP and work capacity has increased to the point that I didn't even break a sweat the entire workout.  I'm fixing several of the issues I was dealing with before, now I just gotta make sure my squat is actually increasing.  I think the 3 week waves of chains and no chains is helping out a ton.

Band pull throughs w/light
3x12, 1x5

Notes: Had the usual lower back pump to deal with.  I like this for light work, but I'm getting bored of it. I might actually try some band good mornings again and see how I deal with it.

Band ab pull downs w/average
100,60

Notes: Hold the band higher for more resistance.

Neck harness work w/50lbs.

Training Log: Entry 688

ME upper

Illegally wide grip pause bench press with chains
Barx10
95x5
135x3
185x3
225x2
275x1
315x1 (New PR)
315x1
315x1

Notes: Felt really strong on this one.  Had a good pause going on the first two sets.  Unracking the weight was taking out too much energy, so I need to lower it one peg.  Ended up narrowing the grip a touch on the last set just to make it easier to take out of the racks.  Still an imbalance between left and right side.

Strict press of 175
4,3,4,1

Notes: Light weight just because I hadn't used this movement in a while.  Took the grip width in a little just from all the wide grip work on the benching.  Felt really strong on this.  Important to hold the breath on the rep.  That last set was just experimenting belting up for the lift.  I might keep that up, as it didn't really negatively impact the lift.

Band pulldowns with light per hand
25,20,20,15

DB rows of 125
4x8

Notes: Got a great stretch in the lats here, and kept the movement where I needed.  Dunno if I'm gonna up the weight or try some higher volume stuff here.

Band pull aparts with light
10,20

Notes: Focused more on pausing for 2-3 seconds per rep here for the sake of form.  It's rear delt work anyway.

Training Log: Entry 687

ME lower

Reverse band deadlifts w/lights
135x10
185x6
225x5
275x3
315x3
365x2
405x1
455x1
495x1
515x1 (New PR)
535x1 (New PR)
495x1

Notes: Didn't feel much strain on the lower back, and the weight went up fast.  Focus on "humping" the bar on lockout.  Getting good leg drive, as a factor of my plate deadlifts I'm sure.

Deadlifts off of plates of 375
3x3

Notes: Was struggling on these today.  Going to up the weight next week and see if it was just too many deadlifts in a row or if it's time to swap out movements.

SSB good mornings of 155
4x10

Notes: Felt some pain on my left hip.  Kept going though, and broke it up.  I need to seriously start foam rolling.  I got a bunch of tissue to work through.

Band side bends w/average
3x10

Notes: Look forward when doing this, not to the side.  Gets a much better stretch.  I really like this movement.  It doesn't place my shoulders in a vulnerable state.

Training Log: Entry 686

RE upper

Touch and go bench of 215
18,6,5

Notes: I'm prolly getting close to peaking.  Everything I touch feels incredibly light, and I just feel way stronger than I have in months.  I'm gonna ride this out and hit a serious deload in feb when I go on break (only bringing bands and grippers, gonna be doing some bodybuilding junk on the cruise ship).  I widened my grip a fingerwidth here, gonna keep experimenting.

3-board press of 295
4,4,3

Notes: Dropped it into the board on the first rep of the third set and lost most of my air, killing a rep in the process.  Still, it's 305 next week. 

Band flyes w/2 minis
12,10,8,8

Notes: This hit my delts right where it needed to, all the tie ins.  Gotta be very careful with this movement, high risk of shoulder injury if I junk up the form.

Pull-ups
25,10,10,10,8,7

Notes: Hit my 70.  Lots of rest pausing.  Thinking of adding some weight again here, but sticking with pull-ups instead of chins.  Gonna see if that saves my joints and ligaments any abuse.

EZ bar wide grip curls w/75
3x10

Notes: Lots of cheating, but who cares.

Hise shrugs of 275
2x25

Notes: Massive shoulder spasm from holding the bar too close on the left side.  Could explain why that shoulder is bugging me.

 

Weighing in at 207, which considering I'm cooking for myself, I'm happy with.  My job is nuts at the moment, and I pretty much come home, lift and sleep, then start over again.

Training Log: Entry 685

RE lower

Squats of 245
15,10,18

Notes: Went without chains for the new weight.  Notice I get less of a back and quad workout here and more of a glute and hamstring kick.  Maybe I'll go 3 on and 3 off.

Band pull throughs w/light
4x11

Notes: Hand to pull fast to keep the back cramp from happening.

Band ab pulldowns w/average
50,100

Notes: Forearms fried out from holding the band so long.

 

Was gonna do some Hise Shrugs, but stupidly unloaded the weight after squats and didn't have enough left in my back to re-load it.

Training Log: Entry 684

ME upper

2-board press
Barx10
95x5
135x3
185x3
225x3
275x1
315x1
345x1
345x1
345x1

Notes: This is a 55lb drop off from the last time I attempted this lift about a year ago, but I blame most of it on just CNS adaptation.  My lockout strength isn't where I want it to be, and my hands and tendons aren't used to handling heavy weight, so I'm cutting chains from this movement.  Need to focus on keeping the shoulder blades pinched tight together to shorter then ROM.  After reviewing my bench grip, I'm just going too damn narrow.  I'm going to start taking advantage of my new shoulder stability and bench wider.

Incline press of 155
15,10,6

Notes: Need to put a pin into the seat to keep it elevated.  I'm thinking of swapping this out soon for some sort of overhead work.  It's calling me.

Band tricep pushdowns w/light per hand
20,17,15,15

Notes: Each hand is holding a band to evenly distribute the load.  Got some tendonitis flaring up in my right elbow, hoping the bands will help.

DB rows of 125
8,8,7,7

Notes: Remember to get a stretch on the lat before the pull, otherwise I'm all bicep and rear delt here.

Band face pulls w/average
3x11

Notes: Nothing special here.

 

Wife is away on a 1 week trip to see the folks, meaning I'm cooking for myself.  I tend to lose weight when they happens, but I at least have a ton of groceries.  It's all south of the border this week.  Last time this happened, I had tacos 4 nights in a row.  What a great week.