A few days...

Gonna condense a few days into this one.  Sunday did squats for the first time in about six weeks.  Four chains plus 245 on my last one.  That would have been right at 345 at the top.  Felt good, depth was good(had a friend judging me), my ankle wasn't too bad under it so going to keep at it, I'm thinking I'll go two weeks of squatting, one week of no squatting.  Monday had Maggy in to help train her.  The truck showing up to work two hours late helped to kick my ass since it was around 100 in that thing when we were unloading it.  Fortunately Monday is my optional accessory day, so mostly some biceps, nothing too exciting, was mostly a rep day.  Had a nice pump when I left and I did a little bit of shoulders, tried some Klokov presses with just the bar, wasn't too bad as far as my shoulder feeling wonky.  Today my back was pretty toasty so my day consisted of a lot of pullups and some lat pulldowns using the Magbar, holy hell that thing is awesome, ended with 8 sets of 3-6 reps of chinups, and 3 sets of 10 on the lat pull downs.  Worried with the way my lower back felt if I had done my speed pulls today it would have just been a fast way to pull my lower back.  So, didn't do those.  Anyway, tomorrow is heavy bench, so... that'll be a fun update hopefully.

As usual...

*started this last night, finishing it tonight.

I'm a day behind on these.  Monday I was kinda hurting, my back was tight and couldn't get loose.  Monday's truck wasn't bad, but for whatever reason I felt gimpy so Monday was some really simple/easy biceps work.  More importantly on Monday my friend Magdalena trained with me.  She decided she wants to give powerlifting a go so Monday was her first attempt.  Put her through the 3 main lifts to get some numbers to work some percentages with.  Honestly I thought I'd have to correct her a lot but I was really impressed.  Mostly just going to require a few form tweaks and I think she'll be amazing.  Squatted 170, benched 75, and deadlifted 205.  So those numbers are pretty awesome, after a bit of time working on form and explosiveness she'll be kicking even more ass.  Okay, that's more than I've ever praised anyone, so lets talk about me.  Tuesday was my speed bench day.  Shoulder felt okay, but I still kept it kinda easy.  Kept everything at sets of 2, 225, 245, 265, 285, 305, then 315 for 4 sets of 2. Felt good, ended with a burnout of reverse grip benchpress with 135, not sure how many reps it was in the 30 range before I knew I couldn't get another.  

Lets flash forward to tonight, tonight was ME deadlift day.  Damn tonight was good.  I'm about 16 weeks out from my next meet, so working at 90% of my 1rm, ended up doing block pulls for 5 singles with 510.  It felt pretty awesome.  Finished with chinups 4 sets of 5.  I'm working on keeping everything nice and simple right now.  Anyway, my sleep has kinda gone shitty after a week of really good deep sleep.  But eh, I'll live, it's what I do.  Other things are going pretty amazing so that's always a plus. 

Trying something different...

Today was pretty fantastic, lots of reasons.  But we'll just cover the gym reasons today.  Everyone was in a pretty good mood at the gym today, it was a fun day there.  So anyway, me and a friend were talking about reverse band chain benchpress yesterday and how Laura Phelps-Sweatt uses it, I had never tried it before just, so today I did.  Man, pretty sure I'm doing this as my primary heavy move leading up to when I begin my meet training.  So, anyway, don't care that much about the warm ups leading to my heaviest single tonight, but went to 365 + around 120-150 of chains, still need to get an exact weight on those.  So I'll need to take my scale into the gym to get an accurate weight on them.  Anyway, it moved really well, except when I went to break it I wasn't thinking that it was around upper 400s/low 500s, when I unracked it so I had to ask for a hand out.  Ended with weighted dips, 1 chain for 4 sets of 10.  I'm going to try to get one more day in this week just for triceps, maybe Friday after work or Saturday before.  We'll just have to see.  Not sure I need to hit my triceps as hard on heavy bench week, but we'll see.

Speed pulls...

Wrist/elbow pain wasn't bad, should be good to go now after some toradol.  Anyway, today was pretty simple.  Good day at the gym, once again I think the people around in that time are what's helping make a difference at keeping my head right in there.  Speed pulls from a 2" deficit, 8 sets of 2.  All moved very quick and smooth, was pretty happy with them.  Well, one wasn't smooth got a little off balance, but I survived.  Anyway... after I did chinups 5 sets of 5.  Like I said nice and simple today.  Tomorrow will be a bit more complex.  I'm really digging this no hair thing.  More on that later.

Fun biceps work...

Lets see, I'll try to be short and to the point.  Work just seemed to piss me off today so I was glad to get into the gym.  Sadly, my left arm is pretty banged up right now, wrist and elbow, so been wearing a brace on both parts the past few days.  Of course being the person I am, take them off go lift.  The elbow was only mildly discomforted which was nice.  The wrist, holy fuck, lets just say I should have wrapped it for more than the barbell curls.  Most important numbers were barbell curls 225 for a set of 4 which was felt better than I thought it would, although realizing I might have used a bit more shoulder than I thought.  Anyway, followed up with some machine curls, 50 for 3 sets of 12, then I did this crazy thing a friend at the gym had told me about for just a nice simple set of 7 each arm.  Dunno what the exact name of it is, but... you put a 45 pound bar on the preacher bench.  Grab it single arm in the middle.  Buddy lifts you through the concentric phase, then you do about a 4 second eccentric phase.  Really could have used a bit more weight on the bar or to have done more reps/sets, but first time and feeling how bad my biceps are cramping right now I'm glad I didn't because damn, they're tore up.  After that, the stupidity I'm known for I did static bar holds, 3 sets, first for 1:15, second for :50, third for 1:05.  That might explain some of the cramping.

What a difference a day makes...

So, we'll start this one off different, I'm going to talk about some stuff that's completely not gym related.  Well, that being in a good place mentally just got completely blown out of the water.  I went from being in the most amazing place I think I'd ever been mentally to well...(oh and I know you read this, if you are reading this one, please stop you have enough to worry about).  So, I don't talk about it a lot, generally nothing more than saying "I'm crazy" but that statement has a lot more truth to it than most realize.  Sometimes when I'm down and those downs can get pretty low my behaviour gets a bit more self destructive because well... crazy.  It's took a long assed time for me to even admit it to myself, let alone a few select others.  So just firing it seems insane not to mention extremely difficult to me.  Sometimes, I'll do something crazy like if I have an impressively long soul patch I'll just completely shave, or if I have a goatee, I'll shave it, dunno just something for a change, well... lets put it like this... still have the goatee, lets see if you can figure that one out. Anyway when I say self destructive I mean things along the lines of alcohol, from time to time pills, and this is the hardest one to admit but self harm.  Yeah, told ya crazy. So anyway... I thought about just ignoring Facebook and Twitter completely for a few days, was even going to not use this.  And yes, I know it post to Facebook/Twitter automatically, but I think I need to keep updating this, sometimes with shit like this.  Anyway, back to that other part... I think it's easier to understand/deal with physical pain than it is with mental pain, that's why sometimes and I do stress rarely, it leads to that.  Sometimes I use the gym as therapy sometimes it works... sometimes it doesn't... today I went in and murdered my triceps in an effort to not do what I was wanting to do.  It'll just be easier of that part of me is known and not seen should things work out...

So, the gym... lets pop some numbers shall we?

Started out warming up with Tate presses 30lbs for a set of 15, 40 for a set of 12, 60 for a set of 10, 70 for a set of 8, then 80s for 3 sets of 8.  Followed that up with weighted dips, 1 chain for a set of 8, 2 chains for a set of 8, 3 chains for a set of 8, at the end I went back and tried 4 chains, that would have been about an extra 100 pounds, couldn't get it but was okay with it.  Straight bar press downs 120 for 3 sets of 12, floor skull crushers for 3 sets of 8.  So, that was a pretty good session, won't say it completely did what it needed, but it helped.

Yeah, that worked...

Okay, lets see... yesterday was dynamic effort bench press, and damn... my thoughts going into it were pretty spot on.  Used my mini bands, warmed up with the bar, went to 135x10, 155x3, 175x3, 195x3, 215x3, 225 for 10 sets of 3, did all of them with close/narrow grip.  Felt pretty great and speed was good.  After that close grip bench still with minis, 135 3 sets of 15, dips 3 sets of 8, then finished with incline dumbbell flies, 3 sets of 8, palms facing out that way I hit a bit more front delt.  It was spot on with what I had thought going in.  Last night my tris and shoulders were so burnt that trying to shower was a pain. Today I was nicely sore, didn't wanna be too sore, had some amazing plans today since it was my day off.  At any rate, good times, this one is going to be short because I'm tired.

A little different...

So, this is going to be more of a checklist, it's 17 weeks until my next meet, my more serious training will begin at about 10 weeks out.  As beat up physically and mentally going into that last one I don't want that to happen in this one, I want more than 10/40 pound gains on my meet records.  Going into this one I have to make sure of certain things, the big thing is keeping myself healthy physically, still not sure if I'm going to compete at 308 or SHW, but right now I'm at 310, so my plan is to keep training right around that weight so I can hit either without having to do drastic measures to cut weight or gain weight.  The last meet I was force feeding myself to the point I would throw up then have to eat more just to keep my weight at 335 so my shirt/suit would fit right.  Not exactly the greatest thing, but you do what you have to do.  Right now, eating in the 4000 calorie a day mark are keeping me right at 310, so I'm comfortable eating that amount.  I need to make sure I'm doing my therapy for my joints/muscles.  TENS unit, foam rolling, lacrosse ball, basically everything I can do to recover faster.  Mentally, I'm in a great place right now which is odd to me, scary to me, but pretty wonderful, there's a specific reason for that and she's an awesome reason for it.  My training over the next few weeks before I hit the 10 week out mark will be interesting.  I'm going to try changing some things up, on bench I'm going to do everything narrow gripped for more tricep/shoulder work since overhead presses are still kind of painful for me, I'm going to do all my pulls from a minimum of a 2" deficit.  Rack pulls will be done at the 2nd pin and a 2" deficit for the next 7 weeks until I hit the 600 pound mark.  Speed will be from a minimum of 2" deficit at 335-385.  I also need to make sure I do some heavy bar holds on bench.  Going to add an extra day of triceps work in every other week.  That one will be heavy and on my speed bench weeks.  Hopefully all this will pull some stuff together and I'll get some numbers that I'm happy with, and not numbers I'm happy with because I was hurt I didn't think I'd get those.

Dead bench dies...

Today sucked on ice.  Like, big and hard.  Apparently the fourth was not with me.  On the way to work tire blew out.  Had to get towed to work, fortunately there's an autocenter connected right to the building so that's handy.  Anyway, was 45 minutes late, the tow was 50 bucks.  Oh, and where I got my car stopped at jacking it up wasn't an option, hence the two.  So, anyway, late for work a day before our regional level visitors, the compactor is broke so the cleaning up the warehouse is harder than it should be, HOWEVER, I think it's pretty good.  I'm sure I'll hear all that bad before all the good, but eh.  Okay, so... ended up not getting a break which sucked, so was looking forward to the gym again.  Got there, the people were good, the training was not.  Did dead bench press, 405 went up easily, decided to jump to 495, it wouldn't budge.  Reset, tried again, I gave that bar hell, but yeah didn't budge.  So I dropped back to 405 and did it a few singles.  Did some weighted dips with 25 pounds of chain, 3 sets of 10-12, that felt good, ended with Gerry-extensions, just what I call them, don't know if they have an actual name.  50 pounds for 3 sets of 15 for blood flow, also did a set of 7 chinups for funsies.  I might actually make it in 5 times this week, so that'll be interesting.  Tomorrow will probably just be core work and Friday squats.

Speed pulls...

A good gym is a lot like what I'd imagine a bar like the one represented on Cheers to be.  Except with a lot more perverted humor.  At least the one I go to is.  Today was one of those days, I was fed up with work.  Felt like crap.  Get to the gym, see my friends, and have a great training session.  Made me feel 100% better.  So yeah, it was a good day.  Lets pop some numbers.  335 for speed pulls 9 sets of 2, didn't do them off a deficit because my lower back was feeling a little tight, in retrospect it was just the first couple of sets I felt tight, so week after next when I speed pull again, I'll definitely do them off 3/4" or 1.5".  After that did some chinups/pullups.  I learned something today, do your pullup before chinups, because damn I was hurting, chins 5x5 pullups went 1x5, 1x3, 1x4, 1x2 long rest 1x4.  Followed that up with some yes and nos, thanks to Leah I found out someone called them bad girls and good girls, which pisses me off for two reasons.  #1  It's pretty sexist.  #2 I hate the fact that people think the hip adductor/abductor are just for women.  Damnit people, strong hips are a corner stone of a strong deadlift/squat.  Do them, if you're stronger than the weight that's on there, stick some dumbbells on the weight stack.  Just do them.  Yeah, the first few times you'll walk funny and sure if you're a guy until you can get yourself situated right you'll pop your cods a few times on the adductor machine, but it's worth it.

Severe lack of a title...

Today at work sucked.  All I could think about was getting out of there and getting into the gym.  Once I got to the gym and finished my 10th set for my shoulders all I could think was the number of lawn mowers and pressure washers I moved around today.  Anyway, number time then I'm gonna try to veg and crash(doubtful).  Lateral raises, 10 sets each, 15s, 20s, 25s, 30s, 35s.  Seated dumbbell cleans, 5 sets of 10 with 25s, at this point my shoulders were throbbing and I was like okay, lets skip front raises and move on to biceps.  Biceps stayed simple today.  Machine curls, 50 pounds 5 sets of 8, Phillips curls using 15s and 20s, then static barbell hold, 3 holds of a minute each.  My intention was to go heavy on them today but that didn't work out since I was zapped from the truck at work today.  Anyway, good news is, today at the gym was with the exception of about 4 people it was everyone you could want at the gym when I got there.  So, my mood improved drastically which was nice.  Speed pulls tomorrow, gonna add some weight to those.  Also, need to call Inzer and see if they can tailor suits/shirts down or if I'd need to buy new ones.  Have the date for my next meet which should be fun, not sure if I'll do it at 308 or SHW, but we'll see.

Pulls for the pull...

Yesterday was good, got to the gym, after a indepth discussion on fluffers it was time to get to work.  First time I had planned on pulling heavy in a while, and was thinking of only sticking at 500.  Anyway, my hip has been bugging me so it'd been about 3 weeks since I pulled over 315.  Set up for rack pulls from the 2nd pin on a 1.5" deficit. Ended up going up to 575 which I easily had another 5-10 pounds.  But that's good, going to work from that pin, maybe going up to the 2" deficit until I'm getting 600 from it.  Then increase up to 3.5" before dropping to pin one.  Anyway, after that only thing I had was chinups, ended up with 6 sets of 5.  Had really underestimated how sore my abs would be after doing those rack pulls and chinups, but damn they're on fire today.  Anyway... that's enough, need sleep, good plans tomorrow if everything goes well and the weather cooperates.

Inflating the chest...

Yesterday was a rep day for chest.  Stuck with the dumbbells again, warmed up with 50s for several reps, 80s for a few, then went to the 100s for palms facing bench press got the 100s for 5 sets of 8.  I always make sure that I bench them like I would if I had a bar so my elbows are tucked all the way down.  Man, these fired up my triceps so bad that I had to cut one triceps exercise out because I was spent.  So, I then did pecdeck with the stack for 4 sets of 10, cable crossovers with the stacks(100) for 3 sets of 15.  Then, was planning on doing overhead dumbbell triceps press, but nope, tris were still throbbing and cramping a bit so I went with something I thought would be easier, rope pressdowns on the cable machine.  Stack(200) on that one for 4 sets of 12, and yeah at that point I decided there would be no more triceps that night.  Okay, so that's enough, my plans today didn't last as long as I had hoped, but man they were good.

Shoulders are back...

This will be short and sweet I suppose.  Have some pretty great plans tomorrow so need to attempt to sleep.  So anyway, Monday I felt I'd try adding shoulders back in to see how it felt.  Went to 3 plates on each side of the shoulder press hammer strength thingy.  I was able to do it for 3 sets of 6 pretty easily but it still made my left shoulder feel wonky.  So, I'm thinking no overhead pressing of any kind.  That kind of sucks because I've always felt I've got a lot of carryover from my ohp to my bench.  But... to the good news of shoulders... followed that up with 3 sets of lateral raises for 3 sets of 10 with 35s, then seated dumbbell cleans for 3 sets of 10 with 35s.  It's funny, I had practically forgotten about seated dumbbell cleans and how much I love them till I was putting together a program for a friend the other night.  Was thinking to myself "What's some good shoulder exercises?"  After going through a few in my head I was like "Damn, why haven't I done those in forever?"  Glad I did.  So anyway, figured that was enough testing of the shoulder and did some pretty simple biceps work.  Machine preacher curls, 60 pounds 5 sets of 10, single arm preacher curls 30 for 4x8, then reverse grip barbell curls with my Fat Gripz, 3 sets of 8.  Felt pretty good, been feeling good a lot lately, both physically and mentally.  It's odd, and I'm not sure I completely understand it, but right now everything is groovy.

Been a minute...

Okay, so, it's been a while, last week I got a tattoo on my center chest so I knew I'd need a few days off, so I scheduled the last half of last week and all of this week off for my deload week.  Well, unfortunately, thanks to a shitty day/news/stuff, I needed to go to the gym, just needed the therapy needed to see my friends.  Just a shitty day.  Also, got some new pre-workout called The Curse, got it in blueberry flavor.  Normally, when I have something that's blueberry flavor it's always some odd assed color when mixed.  This stuff mixed up in some of the bluest liquid I've ever seen.  Long story short, I loved it based on the color.  It worked pretty well, hit hard, had a really good training session, now lets get to numbers.  Warmed up with dumbbell bench 50s for a set of 20, 80s for a set of 10, then 100s for 5 sets of 8-10, then the pec deck stack for 5 sets of 10-12, triceps press downs the stack on that machine(210?) for 5 sets of 15, seated overhead triceps press 100lb dumbbell for 5 sets of 10(no elbow pain which was nice), then ended with a set of 12 bodyweight dips.  So anyway, I guess that's enough rambling, might talk more about the other shit at some point, but I dunno.  Anyway, back tomorrow.

Hurtin' bomb...

Seriously, my upper hip feels like it's been ripped out, repaired using rebar, and shoved back in.  Sitting down on a bench today at the gym sucked big and hard.  Laying back, getting my arch, and driving with my legs on the bench press sucked bigger and harder.  Anyway today was my heavy day but because of the hip I limited myself to 455 on rack presses.  Then did some triceps press downs.  Hip was bugging me so bad had to leave but it wasn't too bad.  So I guess not a lot to say today, well... one more thing, today was a pretty damn good day for a change.  Had a nice distraction.

Few days together...

Sunday did some chain pause speed squats.  Felt good, exploded out of the hole nicely(giggity).  Actually attempted some seated calf raises.  I can handle squatting and deadlifting on my ankle, but holy fuck.  115 pounds on a seated calf raise was painful as fuck.  Monday was just biceps, so nothing big(except my arms), it was a lighter day for them.  Hoping towards the end of the month that will migrate back to shoulder day.  Unfortunately watched the Braves lose their first(of many) game of the season, so that was a downer, but some fun was had.  Today, did speed deadlifts.  I was hurting going into the gym, but I fired out my pulls amazingly.  Was really pleased.  Unfortunately yesterday at work I sliced my hand on a cardboard right where I grip the bar.  That was painful as hell holding the bar.  After that did some one armed rows with 115.  Was going to end up with some chinups but my hand couldn't hold the bar from the cut.  So just ended it. Was a decent enough day because I was happy with my pulls.  Now...

I've been having a hard time with something lately.  To simplify it the most, is it better to know for certain what can't be changed and fixed, or is it better to go on with some doubt even though you're certain?  Not sure if there's a right answer to that... not even sure if I want there to be an answer.

...and that was a good day...

So, before I get into Wednesday's heavy pulling day, today was the last day of the month.  After checking my phone I walked 101 miles inside Sears for the month.  That's just soul shatteringly depressing.  Back to our regularly scheduled programming.  So Tuesday was the drizzled shits of a day at the gym.  Wednesday was the complete opposite, felt good, felt strong.  So anyway, started with rack pulls from the second pin while on 1.5" deficit to get the bar just below my knees.  It's where I've had a sticking point.  Anyway, ended up going to 550 and pulled it so nice and smooth.  Almost like I hadn't had trouble there so I was already pleased.   Followed up with 5x5 on chinups, then 5x5 on one armed rows off the seated row machine with 145.  My back was pretty toast at this point.  It was an all around good day in there, need more like that lately.  Been feeling like I'm just in there because it's what I do.

And that was a bad day...

So, Tuesday, speed bench.  It really wasn't a good day.  My stomach felt like crap most of the day at work so that didn't help the training.  Did banded speed work, 8 sets of 2, with 225 + my mini bands so around 100 at top.  For a shitty day it did get a little better.  My first four doubles I was like "Well, either my bench has gone to complete shit or I'm having a bad day or a combo of the both."  Sets 5-8 my speed picked up so I didn't feel as bad about it which was nice.  Accessory work was kept easy and simple.  Dips for 3 sets of 12.  Then triceps press downs.  Had the stack on there, think it's around 200 pounds.  Triceps felt nice and pumped, but still was kind of a shitty day.  That's really all I have to bitch about... well, I could go with more but nah.

Curls for the girls...

Okay, so my shoulder is still a bit wonky for shoulder stuff, but not bench oddly.  So, Mondays have basically become biceps days just so I get something in on a fourth day.  So, I don't really max out on curls like I do on bench or deadlift.  Meaning, while I'll go to something heavy that I might only get one time, it's not like I'll sit there and analyze, and work up to specifically a 1rm(one rep max).  On bar curls 225 has always eluded me.  I did 205 for a set of 3, then I was like "Yeah, no way I'll get 225 today"  Went to 215 got it for a set of 2.  Sat the bar down fired out "Son of a bitch I should have done 225"  At any rate, maybe in a few weeks when I do another heavy day for curls.  I gotta tell ya, after unloading a 400 piece truck with 30 fucking lawnmowers Monday I'm not entirely sure how I felt like doing heavy curls.  Pretty sure I've under-estimated the amount of dumb I have in me at times.  My forearms were cramping like mofos last night.  My weight is still staying right at the 303 mark which is amazing considering today I hit 96.3 miles walked inside Sears so far this month.  Thursday I work 11-7:15 and it's a truck day so I'll definitely go over 100 miles for the month.  Ugh, that's even more depressing now that I've typed it.

Squatastic

This will be kinda short and sweet.  Easter I went in early for my squat day.  Had the day off so that was nice, ankle wasn't hurting as bad since I was off the weekend and didn't end up walking 5+ miles at work on it.  Went to 265 plus 214 pounds of chains.  Lets go ahead and round up to the 480 at the top.  Didn't really have much trouble getting it for a single.  Think the next few squat sessions I might keep it at that weight and see if I can bust out doubles with it.  That would be nice, but not really expecting it yet.  Also will depend on if I have a spotter or not, only person at the gym that day left early but wasn't a big deal since I was only going 10 pounds over plus was in the cage.  Granted, the ankle was pretty much on fire today, but I did log 5.1 miles while at work today, and that's just basically in a warehouse, so a lot of back and forth, turning and stopping.  So yeah, enough for now.

Benching...

So, not sure if it was a bad day or I'm noticing being 35 pounds lighter has caused a bit of bench drop.  I'm going to chalk it up to a bad day for today.  500 pound bench lockout was a bitch.  It went, but it wasn't easy at all.  After I hammered my triceps pretty hard.  Weighted dips with a 25 pound chain for 3x6, floor skull crushers 115 for 4 sets of 6, close grip bench 225 3x6, and finished with the pec deck for 3 sets of 12 with the stack, don't remember what the weight on it is, I think 250.  Anyway, went much earlier than normal and wanted to end with a burnout set of 225 but what looked like some newbies were in there benching 135 and I decided not to because I didn't want them to think I was doing it to be a dick since I'd have knocked it out over 30 times, but the good thing is my triceps were kinda toast so if I had done this I would probably be cramping tonight so I'll chalk it up as a plus.

So then I come home and my butthead of a dog is asleep on the sofa, so I go plop down next to him and start giving him belly scratches because he's mental for them.  Anyway, I happen to glance down and I've got veins popping in my calves.  I'm still not even used to seeing them in my forearms but this is strange and scary to me.  Anyway, I guess that's enough for tonight.

Anal prolapse...(got your attention yet?)

The past two days days at the gym have been interesting.  The days have started off with talk of anal prolapse and full boar throat gagging.  So I'm gonna go ahead and say that counts as the warmups.  Monday was pretty basic biceps work.  Going to start throwing some side laterals and front raises in next week.  Might keep overhead presses off the menu until May.  Nothing particularly impressive, 135 for 3x6, some Phillips curls, machine curls, then static bar holds.  Nice pump.  However, that being done on a Monday sucks.  Mondays at work is when we get our RRC truck which means it's like generally averages around 400 pieces of smaller stuff, not big crap like fridges/washers.  So I get a lot of arm/biceps work just picking the stuff up and throwing it on the roller out to my guy to be picked up.  So last night my brachioradialis cramps so bad I can't straighten my arm.  At least the forearm pain from the CTS has stayed away thus far.  Okay, now to the more fun stuff.

Tonight was my speed deadlift night, normally I do 8x2 but I decided to mix it up a bit and do a 5x5 with 315.  Holy shit, that was like cardio.  At any rate, I was done with those fast.  Then finished with 4x4(wanted 4x6 but I was wiped the fuck out) on chin/pull ups.  I was pretty wiped.  Fortunately that was all I had programed so I was out in less than an hour.  Tomorrow will be a heavy bench day, feeling lockouts tomorrow but we'll see.  It'll also depend on what time I get in there.  Anyway, that's enough rambling for now.  

Lazy about posting...

Oops, missed a few days on here.  Gonna try to condense it a tad.

Sunday, first time I've felt like doing squats in a long time.  My ankle was hurting like a mofo, but for some reason I was happy and in a good mood to squat.  That was odd to me.  Ended up doing chain squats singles working my way from 105+214 pounds of chain all the way up to 255+214 pounds of chain.  So that's right at 470 at the top.  My depth looked good, form felt/looked good so I was pleased with that.

Monday, still not doing shoulders directly because of the wonky feeling when I do overhead presses so I made it a biceps day.  So really nothing to talk about except I did use the FatGrips a lot, which which came back to haunt me a bit.

Tuesday, Tuesday was a damn good day.  Actually had someone to train with which was nice, speed bench 315+50chain for 5 sets of 2, incline dumbbells 80s for 3 sets of 10, dips bodyweight(303.8) for 3 sets of 10-12, and ended with the pec deck, stack again 3 sets of 10-12.  Chest was pretty pumped up and I'm not noticing any size loss in my shoulders because I'm hitting the inclines and pec deck a bit more.  Training with Christian really helped push me a bit harder than I felt like going so that was a good thing.

Wednesday, it was my heavy pulling day, first time I've decided to go over 405 since the meet, did rack pulls from the 2nd pin which puts it just below my knee and that's where I was losing the 550+ before the meet, so good area to work.  Worked up to 535 and it moved fast and easy, easier than I had expected.  After that I did several sets of pull/chinups kept alternating.  5 sets of 6, 1 set of 5, and 1 set of 3.  This is where I wish I hadn't used the FatGrips on Monday, because holy fuck my forearms were burning.

Now, for the part where I have to talk about the people I consider a part of my gym crew.  And it's a large crew(in both senses) So, I go in Monday and one of them, first time I'd seen him in a while, with the most sincere look of concern he could muster "What's this I hear about you becoming a bodybuilder?" So I was like "I'm gonna kill them."  He laughed "So what are you down to?"  "303.8 this morning."  "I'm worried, are you depressed?  Are you not eating?"  This of course lead to a discussion on eating, training, then another guy popped over as we were in awe of what the fuck we were seeing going on in the squat rack.  This goes back to the whole "If you don't know what the fuck you're doing, maybe the gigantic people who you hear talking over a variety of topics ranging from masturbation, to Taco Bell, to the conjugate method of training aren't such a scary group, maybe they wouldn't mind giving some advice" thing I often bitch about.  I guess that's enough for tonight, I need to attempt to not put a full week in one post.

Clever benchpress related headline

Lifting stuff first, ranting second.

Tonight was good, heavy bench night.  Still not doing heavy singles and liking it.  Tonight I did pin presses for bench, used 405 for 5 sets of 4.  Felt good and man, my triceps and shoulders were about ready to explode when I was done.  After that did some incline for reps, just 135 for 4 sets of 10, I still feel awkward doing inclines, I guess it's from all the years of not doing them, could also possibly be the bench from what I can only imagine is the late 70s.  At any rate, next time I do them I think I'm going to do some dumbbells and see if that feels more comfortable, I'll probably do them heavy so chances of it feeling more comfortable are going to be low.  Ended the direct chest work with the pecdeck, had the stack on there, dunno how heavy it was but fired out 4 sets of 10, on the last rep of the last set did a static hold with it until it forced my hands apart lowering it.  Did a little more triceps work then I was out.  I've got to add back in weighted dips, that'll come Monday.

Now a little rant.  I hate seeing good people doing stupid stuff in the gym.  Problem is, it's one of those things where you're friendly enough with them to say "hi, how ya doing?" but you're not friendly enough to go "Hey, you do know if you keep doing those like that you're gonna herniate a few disc right?"  I guess I should be used to it by now and hope one day someone just goes "Hey, am I doing these right?"  Granted, then I'm going to be like "No, first off you're squatting in the smith machine.  Second you're using the pad.  Third your knees are going really far in front of your feet.  Ect..." Then at that point you realize you'd basically have to retrain their squat because they had an idiot showing them stuff when they first joined.  Okay, I guess that's enough of a rant for now.  

Deadlifty goodness

So, I'm just gonna kinda gloss over Monday, it should have been shoulder day but because of that pain from doing overhead work I just turned it into a biceps/triceps day which makes me feel like I'm bodybuilding and while those guys are awesome, it's just not what I like.  It was a decent day and my arms felt huge after, but that's not where I like to focus.  Today I did my speed pulls from the floor.  That first double felt like complete crap, I felt weak and tiny.  The second one flew up, ended up doing 10 sets of 2 in about 10 minutes with 315, seemed like each one came up faster.  Contemplating on making the rest of March be nothing but speed pulls, I need to go up a tad on them, probably around the 330-345 mark.  Then did 5 sets of 5 on pull/chinups.  Alternated, set 1,3,5 was pull, 2 and 4 was chin.  I always wear relatively baggy shirts to the gym but I think I'm getting a bit more of a V shape towards my lats since I've started(being able to) doing pullups which is nice.  After that I just came home and did a lot of standing ab work with my bands since it felt pretty good outside.  I guess that's it for now, I'll do a weight check in the morning but I seem to be staying right around the 305 mark which is a mark I think I enjoy.

Squat day

Lately, I've been feeling burnt out on training.  It sucks, huge.  For the past 18 years in a lot of ways it's been the only thing I've had, it's what I am, simply put it's my khakis(that's an amazing reference and if you don't get it then shame, SHAME!).  Anyway, I'm trying to push past it but it's been harder and harder.  I noticed it today.  For the first time in a long time my ankle was just hurting instead of painfully hurting, so I was kind of excited to do squats.  Get in there, and all the excitement was gone.   Maybe it's the day I go on and there's really no one in there except for first few sets so I can't at least fake it.  Maybe it's the lift, after the accident I've never been able to squat heavy, mentally blocked from it I guess, but I keep going in and doing squats.  Maybe I'm just bored with them, maybe I'm bored with lifting.  Sad thing is, if I don't do it I hurt more than if I do.  So I guess it's the kobayashi maru of pain for me.  Damn, this is full of great references.  Just did chain squats, standing leg curls, and some pull ups(for fun) tonight.  Numbers are logged, no since in doing it here.  Gonna put this one to bed and see if I can get some sleep myself.  

Curling...

No, not the amazing winter sport.  Curling of weight, but before that.  Got an answer I didn't want but I needed tonight.  So that's one less thing to have on my mind so that'll be good.  Anyway, back to the only thing that matters, training.

Normally tonight would be shoulder night and on shoulder night I usually do one biceps exercise.  However, my shoulder is bugging me for overhead stuff so I just decided to make it all biceps tonight which was odd.  Can't remember the last time I isolated one muscle and worked it.  All my other training involves training everything for a movment(squat/dl/bench), so it was kind of a fun change.

Started with bar curls, didn't really keep track of reps on lower weights but... 95, 135, 155, 165, 185x4 205x3, 225 which I got 2 partial reps, but not enough to count as a full rep. Could have cheated more to get it up but I wanted it to be at least a tad bit strict.  After that did some hammer curls, 80lb dumbbells for 3 sets of 8.  Then some Phillips curls which damn near put tears in my eye.  Finished with a static bar hold for a couple of holds.  Didn't really time them.  But it was a pretty good night.  I guess I'll end it here for tonight.  Gotta figure out how I need to set my days up from here out soon.

RIP SHW

So, been a bit, stress level is back to being way too damn high which sucks, but I'll live, it's what I do.  The promotion at work is in effect.  So still have to learn a bunch of crap about that.  We'll shut up there with the randomness.

Monday was "heavy" bench night, I'm still not going over 405 on anything but heavy bar shrugs.  My plan was 3 bar press for a few sets/reps of 405, however I think I might have been a bit dehydrated because I could not get my triceps to stop cramping.  So instead of like 3-5 sets of 3-5 I got 1 set of 3 and 1 set of 1 before I knew I had to stop because I was done.  Kinda sucked but those days happen.

Tuesday was "heavy" deadlift night.  I was feeling better coming in the gym tonight.  Decided to pull from just below my knees, that's the 2nd pin while standing on a 3/4" piece of plywood.  Went to 405 and did it 5 sets of 4.  My back was pretty toasty after that but... did bar shrugs 3 sets of 8 with 495.  Finished up with 3 sets of pullups to failure, was hitting 6-7 reps on those.  That was it, back was tight from work and tonight had to do a little bit more rolling than normal but it felt good.

Since I'm pretty much off every Wednesday I'm going to redo my heavy days have them alternate again so that way I can pull heavy on Wednesday one week, then bench heavy on the next.  That should work nicely and give me a bit more rest before.  Now, as for the weight loss, as of Sunday morning I was 306.2 pounds.  Once again that's still kind of terrifying, last time I was this small was probably around 2004 so I still have that nagging voice telling me I'm getting small and weak.  The loss has been slowing a bit over the past few days, 306.0 this morning, which makes me think I'm about to plateau out.  If it is right at the 300 mark that'll be a nice area to plateau in.  That way I could switch up weight classes pretty easily.  Still gotta keep trying to shut that voice up that's telling me I'm smaller and weaker.

Back at the deadlifts...

But first, random non-lifting stuff.  Lets see, my sleep has been complete shit lately, the amount of crap I took last night for a little less than 4 solid hours was insane.  With that being said got a message today that was pretty good to get, relieved a lot of stress I've been having so that was nice and maybe with some of that off my mind it'll help with the sleep.  Today was my last day in the hardware department at work.  Got another promotion, second one in 6 months there.  I swear I don't know how people think I'm competent at anything, although they always do at work.  If they only knew how screwed up my actual life/mind is they'd be like "Nope!"  Well, sadly some here do, but still.  Maybe one day I'll be able to adult enough to move the work competence into non-work aspects of life but that window seems to be closing.  Okay, now lets go to the workout stuff...


So the weight is still dropping, getting more and more interested in seeing where the plateau is.  To be honest it's kinda scaring me, but I'll get past it, I think.  I'll actually post an update when I reach a new weightclass.

Tonight was dynamic effort deadlifts.  It was pretty cake, first time I've pulled from the floor since the meet.  Nothing special, 315 8x2.  Got to increase that to 350-65 week after next, I'll probably work from a deficit then.  After that followed up with lawnmowers 3x6 with 115 pounds.  It'd been so long since I've done lawnmowers because the heaviest dumbbell we have at the gym is 100 and it's just too light, but fortunately we got the build-a-dumbbell back I figured 115 would be fine.  It was a little lighter than I wanted too, need to go to 130-40 on those.  After that was going to do some lat pull downs, thought to myself, lets do a couple of pullups before.  Well, it's a huge difference since the weight drop because my 3x6 on lat pulldowns turned into 3x6 on pull-ups which was far more satisfying.  After that ended with some straight-arm pulldowns, maybe 140 pounds(cable machine is numbered instead of actual weights listed.  for 3 sets of 10.  Was a pretty good night.

Couple of days...

Sunday was squat night.  My ankle wasn't too bad but basically just bad enough to make me notice it a lot while squatting.  Nothing fancy, just 145+150chains 3x3, 195+150 chains 3x3 and 235+150 chains 2x3.  Felt okay, that was all I did.

Tonight was some speed bench.  Simple 8x2 with 275, I've got to pop that up to like 295 from now on, was just too easy so I split my sets first 4 were normal grip, last 4 were close grip.  Then did some incline bench of 135x8, 155x8, 175x8, 195x8.  Ended with some tricep work.  Nothing major but everything felt good.  The cut phase is still going, probably actually update that in a few days.

Little shrugging...

Keeping it simple this week, tonight was a fun night at the gym.  Just some shrugs and assisted pull ups.  Shrugs were relatively heavy, finally got some straps so I don't have to powergrip when I get heavy.  Final sets were 5 sets of 6-8 with 495.  I will end up with traps one day.  Okay, probably not since I'm built like an Autobot but I'll get as much trap as I can.  Those last two statements mean something entirely different on 4 chan.  Lotta good people at the gym tonight made it a pretty good night, those days can always get the shit that won't stop running through your mind off it.  Guess tonight is going to be short and sweet.  I'll just leave this here...

..gotta get back in this mindset.

Long time...

So it's been over a week since the meet, not going to say I was happy with my numbers.  Bench of 510 and deadlift of 540, which are both meet PRs but I was really hoping for more.  So in that aspect, it was a bit of a bummer.  However, it does seem like a good takeaway that I can go into a meet as banged up as I was and still finish it.  Bench went well, opened with 450 just to have a nice easy one to get on the board.  Second attempt was 510, got it without any real issue.  Third attempt was 530, it stopped just a tad before lockout so I had to have them take it.  Between bench and deadlift I got a call that I really didn't want to get.  It had me worried about someone so I don't think my head was entirely in the deadlifting.  Opener was 500, smoked it, was thinking I could end with 570, so I went for my second with 540, smoked it.  In retrospect I should have really went 550 just to get an extra 10 pounds out of it.  The 570 stopped just below my knees.  But it was a pretty good time.

Only trained twice last week, head's been in completely other places.  However, I have cut out a lot of the junk food I was using to keep me at 330ish.  In doing so I've slowly dropped some weight.  It's odd seeing my weight go down and trying not to have a freakout over it because I think I'm getting small and weak.  At any rate, I'm sub 320 right now.  In my head that seems so small.

Until April I'm not doing anything over 405 pounds except maybe shrugs.  Even my heavy days will be heavy reps instead of singles.  Tonight I tore my chest up nicely.  Did board presses with 405, sets of 4, 3, and 5.  Triceps and shoulders were pretty tore up, which isn't a bad thing since they've needed some work lately.  Then did some light incline bench for 3 sets of 8.  Ended up the night by burning out on bench press, 225 for a set of 31, that's a new rep PR for 225, so that's pretty nice. I plan on working my triceps in a bit more with my shoulders on Thursday.  We'll see how that goes.  I've rambled enough.

Couple of days...

So, the meet is Saturday and I'm hurting.  Last night was my one night at the gym this week to go through my movements.  Everything felt okay.  Screwed up part is I don't feel ready.  I've prepared hard, but I've been beat up the whole time.  I'm not really expecting to put up huge numbers but as long as they're improved numbers I won't be that disappointing.  My hip/lower back was hurting pretty bad when I got up Wednesday morning so I went to my doc.  Finally broke down and asked him about pain management clinics, he was pretty cool since he's had to go to one before.  Said they're really good about finding alternatives if you don't want pills thrown at the problem.  I'm not a fan of opiates at all, they make me sick to my stomach and I just can't function that well on them.  I think that's why I've always thought Tramadol was a good alternative.  Knocks down the pain some but I can function on them.  So anyway, got my usual shot of Toradol and a prescription of Tramadol.  Hip felt good last night while going through my deadlift movement, pulled from the bottom pins though.  Rested it pretty well today and plan on it tomorrow.  I suppose I could switch to bench only the day of if it's bothering me, but I've made the most gains in my deadlift.  One of the nice things is we talked about some of the options available the one that I thought was the most fascinating was severing the offending nerve that's causing the pain.  My doc said he had it done and it took three times before it scarred enough to not heal back but once it happened, boom, no more pain at all.  Dunno if that'd be an option with my ankle and knee but it's pretty awesome.  Anyway, I'll end up checking that out shortly I hope.  I'll have to get an MRI so I'm not looking forward to removing my Jacob's ladder, for that but it'll be okay.  Joking... or am I?  

Couple of days post...

My last heavy deadlift day was Thursday.  Missed 575, after watching the video it was easy to see what I did wrong.  Should be easy to fix, pulled it easy, just once it went past my knees I tried to continue pulling with my back when I should have just sat back.  Here's the vid...

So that was a bit of a pisser, but 2 weeks until the meet.  Have a dynamic effort deadlift and bench day this upcoming week, so those will be good.  Then a deload/off week the week of the meet.  Then yay, we get to see how weak I am.

Tonight was good, once I go over the 250 range on squats they're killing my ankle and knee so I'm still keeping them at 235 for sets of 6.  Did that and some hamstring work.  Ended with some curls.  For fun tonight I found out I can curl 165 for a set of 10.  Tonight was pretty fun at the gym, good people and way too much ballbusting, well not too much because that's where the fun came from.  Here's hoping I feel that good the next few nights.

Bench Monday...

Lets see, moved my bench day to well, International Benchpress day.  So that's Monday.  Anyway, think I'll feel better not doing my deadlifts on the night I do most of my bending/moving around at work.  Benching today felt pretty good.  Good people around so that added to it.  Last heavy night in my shirt before the meet and I was kind of dreading it, but tonight was nice and smooth.  Didn't feel that great going in just because for some reason my bench has suffered so much lately because of the jacked up rib, tonight was surprising.  Went 505 and got it without any real difficultly.  Then decided I'd give one more a go at 515.  Had a friend video it so I could see how it went, made me realize I didn't miss it because of strength, just technique.  My elbows flared a bit about midway through so that's what caused the miss, but just required a light touch by my spotter to complete the lift.  One more speed day and then a deload week before the meet.  So actually looking forward to it now.  I'll deadlift heavy on Thursday.  Then start thinking about my openers, second, and final attempts at the meet.

Sunday Squatday

So, my weight is at 320 right now.  Got exactly 3 weeks to put on 15 pounds.  Doesn't sound like it should be hard but for some reason it has.  Anyway... a little something different at the start.  Had a pretty amazing last three days that weren't gym related at all.  Been spending some time with someone who's pretty special and it's been pretty nice to feel good about something that's not just the gym.  Anyway, squats... so I'm having to change my days up a bit, should end up being better over all since I won't do deadlifts after one of my longer days at work with more walking/bending. This means squats are now on Sunday.  Tonight I go in, felt pretty okay, no knee pain, back pain.  Do my warmups with the bar, feels fine.  Then I go to 145 and dropping down felt fine, coming up felt really wonky on my left knee.  Like it wasn't stable.  Quick fix of "Hey, lets put on the Rehbands" fixed that right up.  Went to 235 for a few sets of 6.  They all felt good till the last set then the knee felt a bit unstable on rep 3, finished out the 6 but decided to call it there.  Decided to avoid the leg curls and do them after deadlifts this week instead.  So I did the unthinkable and worked some biceps.  One day I'll get large arms.  Tomorrow night will be a heavy bench night, so I gotta figure out how to put on at least 10 pounds over night.  Maybe I'll sleep with a few sticks of butter on my chest and hope it absorbs.  It's so crazy it just has to work!  We'll see how it goes.  A bit more of something in depth/insightful coming this week.

Cupcakes...

So, thanks to the oblique pull I took Sunday night off, I think my shoulders might be thankful for the rest.  Monday night was speed deadlifts so wasn't sure how that'd go but it went surprisingly well.  315 for 8 sets of doubles off 3 3/4" deficit.  I really feel good about my deadlift going into this meet.  My bench though is what's worrying me.  I might make Saturday another bench day just to get some extra work in my shirt.  I need to wash it to tighten it up some as well.  Also gotta figure out what I'm eating or not eating that's causing my weight to get that 10 pound flux.  I know it's normal for your weight to flux but one day I'll be 325 and stay there for a week trying to eat more.  The all of a sudden, no gradual movement and boom, 335 so really need to figure out what's bloating me so much and eat extra.  At any rate, maybe I just need to go on a cupcake regimen, that does sound pretty awesome.

Hurting...

Louie Simmons once said something to the effect of 'if you go into a meet without being hurt you didn't train hard enough.' I have never been more prepared for anything in my life.

That's exactly how I feel right now.  Lower back is tight, feels like it should be pulled but just not.  Hard to describe I suppose.  Rib out of place that's still bugging me, didn't realize how much the bench shirt would make that suck.  Woke up this morning with a pulled abdominal muscle.  Dunno how I did that, really hoping I wasn't sleeping that violent, my dog didn't seem traumatized this morning so must not have.  Then tonight while doing squats I learned that the vastus medialis head of the quadriceps goes into my knee has a pull. Oh, and while it's not hurting, I've got odd bruising around the ankle that always hurts from the squat incident.  Not painful to the touch, just oddly bruised, but it's not hurting anymore than normal so I'll just overlook that.  That's probably enough bitching for the night.  Just need to start packing myself with ice and see how that goes.  

Bench night I guess...

So tonight was a heavy bench night.  505 kicked my ass.  I think my shirt might have worked me instead of me working it.  The meet got pushed back a week which is nice.  I've got to figure out what was going on.  Going to do my speed work in my shirt for the next couple of weeks too.  With the Rage X I have to kind of do a bodybuilding bench to get the bar into my chest, then tuck my elbows, then press it.  So I'm thinking tonight I didn't bring my arms down like I should have.  Aside from that, it was a pretty good night at the gym.  So looks like more triceps hammering and I'm thinking less overhead press work on my shoulder days.  This one apparently is going to be pretty short it looks like.  Have fun peeps.

Deadlift test

So, tonight was a max effort night.  I'll have one more before now and the meet so I wanted to get a light gauge of where I'm at.  at 500 pounds I pulled it off the floor great, but I lost my grip with my left hand.  Knew it wasn't a weight issue so I went and pulled again.  Once again, popped off the floor nice but I lost it with my left hand.  So, was pissed off at this point.  Chalked up hard, grabbed the bar as tight as I could and popped it off the ground and locked it out easy.  Then I went to 550.  Asked a friend to watch and see how fast it comes off the floor.  Told him there's no way I'm going to lock it out after those 3 pulls before I could hang on to 500.  He watched, popped it off the floor, once it hit my knees I was like "Yeah, I've got this."  Finished it.  Was pleased.  One more test day 3 weeks out I'll shoot for 575-580 on that test.  Just try to figure out what happened with my grip tonight.  At any rate, a little more grip work is on the table.  Wednesday we get to test the bench.  So that will be pretty fun.  My back is feeling pretty good from tonight so hopefully that'll hold up.  Anyway, no rants/tangents tonight, not sure how I'm feeling.