Nice Year End Gainz

My left shoulder still refuses to go under the bar on back squats. I'm doing some stretches and rehab exercises for it, but at this point I'm no longer that worried about it. Maybe the shoulder pain I feel with the bar on my back is indicative of some massive impingement that's just waiting to blow up into emergency surgery. Or maybe... it's just random pain. In either case, I won't stop lifting, and my press numbers are better than ever. I'm back squatting with straps within 95% of my all-time best, so it doesn't seem like something I should worry about.

Still no PR on seated overhead press. I failed twice with 290 lbs. Which seems like a helluva lot of weight, but I was hitting some nice rep PRs (full range) before I started the partials cycle, so I thought I'd do better. Pretty pleased with overhead pressing overall.

I progressed my front squats to 325 lbs. for 2 sets x 5, and hit a single with 390 lbs. - new best.

Another bench press PR, and I missed with 420 lbs. twice. Missed 430 lbs. with a SlingShot, but I was pretty tuckered out at this point.

Also made an accidental incline bench press PR of 320 lbs. x 2. Regular sets are now up to 6-8 reps with 300+ lbs., which I've never worked up to before. Heavy singles (after flat bench press) ended up at 335 lb. Not bad for a middle-aged dude with an apparently busted shoulder.

Weighted pullups are up to +25 lbs. x 8.

Seated military press 250 lbs. x 5, 275 lbs. x 1

Bench press 415 lbs. x 1 (PR)

Incline bench press 320 lbs. x 2, 335 lbs. x 1 (PR)

Squat (with straps) 520 lbs. x 3, 530 lbs. x 1

Deadlift 540 lbs. x 2

Front squat 325 lbs. x 2 sets x 5, 345 lbs. x 1, 375 lbs. x 1, 390 lbs. x 1 (PR)

Busted Shoulder Blues

Recently I've been having trouble with my left shoulder. It's been bothering me on and off for the past 6-7 years, but now it's gotten to the point that I can't get the bar on my back to squat. A muscle starts to seize up somewhere under my left scapula, my entire shoulder locks up, and the ensuing pain is unbearable, making it impossible for me to stay stable under the weight.

I'm working on unfreezing my troublesome shoulder and am using straps for my back squats. Kind of like a poor man's safety squat bar (I'd buy one, but don't really have the space for it). The setup is similar to this:

https://www.t-nation.com/training/a-new-trick-for-building-your-legs/

Not sure how stable this setup will be under really heavy weights. I've gone up to 415 lbs. x 5 so far and it felt OK. For now, back squatting with straps is better than not back squatting at all.

Oddly, my shoulder does not hurt during flat bench and overhead pressing at all. I have full (almost entirely painless) range of motion in both shoulders, so I'll keep my fingers crossed that this is just one of those "floating pain" things John Broz used to write about.

Right elbow is still giving me trouble, but it's manageable so far. Dare I say it's getting better? Yes, I dare.

Got to check in with a physio to deal with these nagging injuries. I imagine a decent massage will work wonders for me.

My last partials cycle yielded mixed results. I set a new PR on the bench press, but not on the overhead press. Then again, I've made huge jumps in overhead pressing strength in the past year, so it makes sense I'm hitting a plateau sooner.

Also set a random but exciting PR in the SlingShot bench press. 420 lbs. for an easy single, 10 lbs. for every year I've been circling the Sun for.

Seated military press 265 lbs. x 1, 230 lbs. x 6 - I tried for a new PR with 290 lbs. and failed

Back squat 540 lbs. x 3 (rep PR)

Front squat 365 lbs. x 2, 300 lbs. x 2 sets x 5 - failed with 385 lbs.

Deadlift 540 lbs. x 2

Bench press 380 lbs. x 1, 410 lbs. x 1 (PR), 325 lbs. x 6

SlingShot bench press 420 lbs. x 1 (PR) - almost got two reps here

Bodyweight - consistently in the 215-218 lb. range.

405 lbs. Bench Press Achieved

My partial lift numbers declined a bit compared to last cycle, especially in the "just short of full" range. But I still pressed new personal bests both overhead and on the flat bench. Cutting down on the number of reps, sets, and exercises seems to have helped.

The pain in my right elbow is still there, but I trained through it (using CBD cream and elbow sleeves), and managed okay. I cut out almost all triceps training to compensate. Oddly, dumbbell kickbacks don't hurt at all, but any sort of pushdown or extension is out of the question. So kickbacks it will be until this goes away. Dips are now possible, as long as I don't go too low.

Partials are still working. They may be a little too intense for regular training and I may need to space the cycles out more. E.g. do them 3-4 times per year and just do full-range lifting in between. Although it's hard to resist bench pressing 520 lbs. x 5, even if it is for only a couple of inches.

Seated overhead press 285 lbs. x 1 (PR), 225 lbs. x 7 (may be a PR)

Bench press 375 lbs. x 1, 405 lbs. x 1 (PR), 320 lbs. x 10 (possible PR)

Squat up to 540 lbs. x 2

Deadlift up to 540 lbs. x 2 (possible PR)

Back has felt iffy while deadlifting, so I'm playing it safe. Also I've run out of weights. For the time being, I'll just focus on adding a rep here and there on what used to be 1RM testing weeks.

I'm debating whether to cancel my Gold's Gym membership and buy more weights for home, or keep everything the same and go to Gold's once a month for heavy squat/deadlift singles. My old gym is now closed and the new one will be pretty far when it reopens. Might wait and see what the new gym is like before deciding.

Bodyweight was around 215 lbs. all last week.

400-lb. Bench Press Club Membership Plus Massive Overhead Press PR

Partial lifts continue to deliver full-range results. Following four weeks of travel, I ran another 4-week cycle and set PRs in both presses.

I have had to modify my training a bit to accommodate the insanely heavy loads. Lower the volume to only 2-3 "working" sets, and really re-think exercise selection in general. Next time I do a partials program, I'll cut out all triceps exercises because the added strain is just too much.

Seated overhead press 245 lb. x 1, then 260-270-280 lbs. x 1 (all three lifetime bests)

Bench Press 355 lbs. x 2, 380 lbs. x 1, 400 lbs. x 1 (PR)

Squat - worked up to 540 lbs. 2x2

Front squat 385 lbs. x 1 (maybe PR?)

Deadlift 540 lbs. x 2 singles

I followed up my overhead press PR with 225 lbs. x 6, which is probably also a PR unto itself. This strained my right triceps (part where it attaches to the elbow) pretty severely. By Saturday, I managed to rehab it sufficiently to make bench pressing possible, but it still hurt like hell. Even during warmups with 225 lbs. Finally broke the 400-lb. bench press barrier, with a little strength to spare, but was in a lot of pain. I hope I didn't damage my tricep tendon permanently.

Squats are moving quickly and explosively. Deadlifts less so, but at least I'm not losing strength. May buy some extra weights around the New Year and try to set squat/deadlift PRs in 2024.

Partial Lifts for Partial Results?

Instead of moving right into another 12-week bench press training cycle, I decided to mess around with partial lifts (progressive distance training) for a few weeks and see what happens.

There are some partial lift programs floating around teh Interwebz, but I did my own thing. Press off pins at a certain height, work up to a heavy set, then lower the pins in the next workout and see how heavy I can go. Not a lot of structure, so I mostly pushed the weight until I couldn't push it any further. Sometimes I did a back-off set, other times not.

To keep the "groove greased", or whatever, I followed up every partial workout with 1-2 full-ROM sets with a medium heavy weight (e.g. 185x10 on seated presses, 275x10 on bench presses, close and normal grip). Or incline bench presses to follow up partial flat pressing. Supplemented these with isometrics - empty bar pressed into pins for max effort sets of 10-12 seconds, usually below whatever range I was working that day.

I applied this method to the following exercises:

Seated overhead press

Close-grip flat bench press

Regular-grip flat bench press

Squats and deadlifts were trained as normal. I don't have enough weight plates for partial squats/pulls, and I don't care about PRing these that much.

After 4 weeks of gradually working my way down the rack, the full-ROM results were:

Seated overhead press 245 lbs. x 1

Regular-grip flat bench press 375 lbs. x 1 (went up very easily, but 395 lbs. was a no-go)

Squat: 530 lbs. x 3, 550 lbs. x 1 (tied PR)

Deadlift: 505 lbs. x 3 (did not max out as I ran out of time)

I thought I'd set a new squat PR, then went through my training logs and realized I'd already done 550 lbs. for a single. This was mildly disappointing, as I'm sure I could have added an extra 5 lbs.

As much as I hate to judge by the mirror, my shoulders and arms seem noticeably bigger. Most important - I was definitely in less overall pain, even when using ridiculous weights (405x10 and 445x5 on partial bench presses).

So am I 100% sold on progressive distance partial training? Maybe. I feel it might work better as a shock tactic than as regular training. Maybe it's just an irrational resistance toward partials after 20+ years of "normal" lifting. Studies seem to dismiss partial-ROM training, but I've never found exercise studies to align with what works for me.

Either way, who can resist repping 405 lbs. for double digits on the bench?

Mixed Bag

Mixed bag of lifts lately. Squat and overhead press are going very well, deadlift and bench press not so well, but not badly either.

Squat: 520 lbs. x 2 sets x 3, 525 lbs. x 3

Bench press: 340 lbs. 3x3, 360 lbs. x 2, 375 lbs. x fail

Seated overhead press 215 lbs. x 3 sets x 5, 225 lbs. 3x3, 245 lbs. x 1 (tied all-time PR)

Deadlift 500 lbs. x 3 (missed a session due to travel)

Never managed anything like 520x2sx3 on squats before, so am pretty happy. On the other hand, my bench press strength has gone to shit lately (but overhead pressing has never been better). Maybe it's time to start focusing on the OHP and put the flat bench press on the back burner.

Back still feels a little unstable during deadlifts. I'm still watching out for any twinges.

Quadratus Lumborum Lumberings

My back has put me on notice.

Recently I finished my light/moderate squat workout, went to set the bar back in the rack, and slammed it hard into the J-hook on the left side. The rebound set off a twisting motion with my low back and hips as the fulcrum. I managed to not collapse under the weight and put it down safely, but my quadratus lumborum muscle on the opposite (right) side immediately went into a painful spasm.

The next two days were bad. A deep breath would set my QL cramping. I managed to get in some upper body work, and by Thursday I'd rehabbed it sufficiently to complete a moderate deadlift workout. A couple of weeks later the pain is almost gone. But my back is still twitchy and I'm unwilling to push the lower body lifts very hard for the time being. Or maybe ever again.

Is there really a point in pushing an aging body toward new 5-lb personal bests? Or would scaling my squat and deadlift 1RM back to 500-ish, avoiding injury and doing more quality reps in the 400-450 range, be a better idea? A sensible person probably wouldn't be asking these questions.

Squat: 495 lbs. x 3, 525 lbs. x 1

Bench press: 305 lbs. x 3 sets x 6, 315 lbs. x 3 sets x 5, 325 lbs. x 4 sets x 3

Seated overhead press: 205 lbs. x 6-6-5, 210 lbs. 3s x 5

Deadlift: 505 lbs. x 3, 515 lbs. x 3, 540 lbs. x 2s x 1 (all the weight I have at home, so I did two singles)

Front squat: 315 lbs. x 1 (crapped out on these after back squats)

New Year

Not much to report on the lifting front. I'm training at home 4 days per week and at the gym one day per week (heavy squats or deadlifts). Finally have enough plates for heavy bench presses and moderate squats, 490 lbs. total. It's taking me some time to adjust to the new equipment and I've taken a step back on all upper body lifts to work on improving my form.

My bodyweight has dropped by a significant amount (6-8 lbs.) without me really noticing it. Probably one of the reasons driving my bench press numbers down. My other lifts don't seem to be seriously affected, although I feel that the constant lower back fatigue is holding back my deadlift a little. Might be a good time to reassess my assistance exercises and lower overall volume.

There are a few niggling pains now and then, but nothing serious.

Maxed out on squats and deadlifts this week, as I'm back on my usual training cycle. Threw in some front squats in my home gym because I can. Back squat and deadlift singles were done at the globo gym on the same day. I barely hit the squat single, but feel like I could have gone a little heavier on the deadlift. Still, great numbers (if no PRs) overall.

Added some incline bench presses and I'm embarrassingly weak on these. In the first week I pushed more weight overhead than I did on the incline. It's hard to think that I was five pounds shy of incline pressing three plates a mere three months ago.

Seated overhead press: 190 lbs. 3sets x 6

Squat: 505 lbs. x 3, 525 lbs. x 1

Front squat: 355 lbs. x 1

Bench press: 290 lbs. 3 sets x 6 (second week of 12-week cycle)

Deadlift: 505 lbs. x 2, 545 lbs. x 1