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.