Another Sabbatical

26 October 2015


Bench press 310 lbs. x 3, 280 lbs. x 2s x 3

Paused bench press 245 lbs. 2s x 5

Pulldowns 1s x 8, 5s x 6, heavy

Standing BTN press 140 lbs. 2s x 5

EZ bar curl 30 total reps

Pushdowns 3s x AMAP

Traveling out of town for work, will resume lifting next week.

Second Everything Day

25 October 2015


Squat 365 lbs. 3s x 5

Mid-shin pull 395 lbs. x 10 singles

Close-grip bench press 235 lbs. x 7

Standing BTN press 135x4, 150x3, 160x3

That was it.

Back to the Future Week

18 October 2015


Bench press 280 lbs. x 5, 270 lbs. 2s x 5

Paused bench press 260 lbs. x 4, 250 lbs. x 2s x 4

Pulldowns 5s x 6

Standing BTN press 140 lbs. 2s x 5

EZ bar curls 30 total reps

Pushdowns 3s x AMAP


19 October 2015

Smith machine floor press 290 lbs. x 3, then 250 lbs. 2s x 3

Seated cable row 5s x 6

Leg curl 4s x 8

Cable curl 3s x AMAP


21 October 2015

SlingShot bench press (reactive) 330 lbs. x 5, 300 lbs. 2s x 5

Standing BTN press 135 lbs. 3s x 6

DB curl 3s x 10

Everything Day

17 October 2015


Squat 355 lbs. 3s x 5

Knee felt OK. A bit of pain on the warm-up sets, then it was fine.

Mid-shin block pull 370 lbs. x 10 singles

Close-grip bench press 265 lbs. x 4

A much needed reminder of how weak my triceps have gotten. Over the past year and a half or so I've moved my bench press grip out wider and wider, allowing me to progress in weight more quickly but neglecting the weakest link in the chain. I was supposed to work up to a comfortable set of 4, and 265 was not comfortable. Could have maybe done 1-2 more reps, which at this weight is pretty weak.

Standing BTN press 135x3, 145x3, 155x3

Set an unusual PR in the BTN press in that I waited 11 minutes to do three sets that took me 3.5 minutes (including rest periods).

Leg extensions with top squeeze, 3s to failure

Read somewhere that these are good for quad tendonitis. Jury's still out.

Bench and Kurlz

Update for 14 and 15 October 2015:

So the bench press specialization routine I settled on is a 9-week program where you rotate different pressing exercises, rep ranges and intensities.Since I'll only be squatting and pulling once a week, I needed something to fill up the remaining 3 days, and thought this fits the bill nicely. You start out with one main pressing exercise and 4-5 supplemental ones, then gradually eliminate them until you're only doing the main one in week 9.

I have no illusions about setting new PRs and have pretty much written this year off training-wise. Hopefully I'll learn something new from this experiment and stay motivated - I've been struggling with gym motivation since my back/hip injury.

Day one:

Smith machine floor press - up to a heavy set of 4

Seated cable row 5s x 6

Leg curl 4s x 8

Day two:

SlingShot bench press 300 lbs. x 5, 330 lbs. x 6 - used reactive SS, so this was pretty heavy

Standing BTN press 135 lbs. 3s x 6

DB curl 30 total reps

Pushdowns 3s x AMAP

Something New

12 October 2015


First light workout of new knee-friendly program.

Bench press 245 lbs. 2s x 6, 1s x 8

Standing BTN press 135 lbs. 2s x 5

Pulldowns 5s x 6, heavy

EZ bar curl 5s x 6

Close-grip incline bench x a few sets of 5, light

Deload Day Two

6 October 2015


Squatmourning 315 3s x 5 - mild knee pain during first set

Bench press 225 3s x 5

Stiff-legged block pull 315 3s x 5

Standing front press 135 3s x 5

Bent-over row 3s x 8

Incline bench DB curl 3s x 8

Deload Day One

4 October 2015


Deload week, starting new bench press specialization routine next Saturday.

Squat 315 lbs. 3s x 5

Did these squatmourning-style to keep strain off the knee. Also wrapped knees. It worked - no knee pain registered.

Bench press 225 lbs. 3s x 5

Stiff-legged block pulls 315 lbs. 3s x 5

Standing front press 135 lbs. 3s x 5

Pulldown 3s x 8

EZ bar curl 3s x 8

Tricep dip machine 3s x 8

Rear delt fly 2s x 10

Will probably repeat this once or twice this week.

Disappointing

3 October 2015


Bench press 135x10, 185x5, 235x3, 275x3, 305 (3+) x 7 reps

Joker sets 315x3, 325x3, 335x3

Barely made 305x7. Could not get the muscles to fire properly. Whole upper body was very sore and creaky. I think the current volume of heavy pressing (raw and SlingShot) is killing my bench press - I can't recover from two heavy workouts in 7 days.

Will probably take a deload week, then switch to a bench press specialization routine until my knee heals. Back to 3/5/1 as soon as I can squat pain free.

Seated cable rows 30 total reps - varied the grip and used different handles for a change.

Standing front press 30 total reps - started out with 115, bumped up to 120 at some point.

DB curls 4 sets x 10-12

Pushdowns 2s x 20+ reps

Cable flyes 2s x 8-10

Will I Make It?

1 October 2015


Squat 135x5, 225x3, 275x3, 315x3, 340x5, 385x3, 430 (1+) x 5

Joker sets 450x2, 460x1 - last set was to questionable depth.

Leg press 50 total reps - upped the weight on the leg press and now I hate it again.

Seated leg curl 3s x 8-10

Lifting was solid, but my knee doesn't seem to be getting any better. I'm now facing a quandary. If I ignore the knee pain (it's not really affecting my squats) and keep increasing the weight on the bar, I have a chance of working back up to 5 plates before the end of the year. On the other hand, if I ignore the knee pain, it could get worse and possibly develop into something serious. Also I don't see any point in working up to LOL5pleat just so I could say I've done it - it won't change anything, or even feed my ego.

From the online research I've done, it looks like a simple case of quadriceps tendonitis, but it could become chronic if untreated. The options now are a) keep squatting and hope the knee makes it, or b) stop doing all quad-oriented work and wait for the tendon to recover. There might be a c) reduce lower body work to once a week, but that never really works when it comes to injuries.

I guess I'll have to do some more reading and decide.