Groundhog (Bench) Day

8 November 2015


So my assignment got extended and I didn't make it home until Saturday. Went to the gym and just basically repeated last pre-trip workout to restart the cycle. Also I somehow dropped 5 pounds during my trip and now weigh around 203. Seeing as I no longer lift heavy and don't need the extra bodyweight, that's a good thing?

Bench press up to 310 lbs. x 3, then 280 lbs. 2s x 3

Paused bench press 250 lbs. 2s x 5

Seated cable row 30 total reps - forgot I was supposed to do these on a separate day

Standing BTN press 140 lbs. 3s x 5 - also forgot I was only supposed to do 2 sets of these.

EZ bar curls 30 total reps

Pushdowns 3 sets x AMAP

Last November I weighed in excess of 220 pounds and was capable of lifting some decent weights. A year later I've lost over 15 pounds BW (granted, most of it on purpose) and all my lifts are way down. Training-wise, 2015 has been a complete writeoff.

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

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

Weekend Shenanigans

26 September 2015


Few too many beers the night before. I dragged ass around the house all morning, had a couple Advil, managed to hit the gym in the afternoon. Needless to say, expectations were pretty low.

Also some kid at the gym addressed me as "sir". Haggard hungover look PR.

Bench press 135x6, 185x3, 225x3, 255x5, 285x3, 320 (1+) x 6 reps

Some improvement here. No shoulder or collarbone pain.

Joker sets 340x1, 350x2, 360x1

360 felt very heavy and I suspect the spotter yanked the bar up at the end (although I got the obligatory "all you brah"). Doesn't matter, since the rep set is the only thing that counts.

Seated cable row 30 total reps

Standing front press up to 185x1, then a couple of back-off sets with 155.

EZ bar curl 30 total reps

Pushdowns 3s x 15-20

DB curls 3s x 8-10

Just Pumping

19 September 2015


Bench press 135x8, 185x3, 225x5, 255x5, 285 (5+) x 8 reps

Whatever. Triceps were super sore, in spite of taking 2 days off and not even doing any cable pulling. Not just sore, but also somehow, I don't know, crampy? Really weird.

Seated cable row 30 total reps

Standing front press 135x3, 155x3, 165x3, 175x3, 185x3, 190x1, 190x2

DB curl 5 sets

Pushdowns 4 sets

Cable curl 3 sets

Cable fly 3 sets

Minus Ten Percent

12 September 2015


Had some people over last night and didn't go to bed until 5AM or so. Sleep was shitty and I didn't get enough of it. So today's workout really sucked.

Bench press 135x8, 185x3, 235x5, 280x3, 305 (3+) x 6 reps

Barely made the sixth rep. Last week I was disappointed to hit 315x6. Guess I should lower my expectations.

Joker sets 325x3, 330x3, 330x3 - these felt heavy and slow

Seated cable rows 30 total reps

Standing front press 135x3, 165x2, 185x1, 200x2, 205x1, 210x1, 215xfail

Having failed at the bench press, I thought I would at least have some juice left for the overhead press. I was wrong.

EZ bar wall curl 30 total reps

Pushdowns 3s x 15

Cable fly 3s x 10

Rear delt raises 3s x 15

No Progress

5 September 2015


Bench press 135x8, 185x3, 225x3, 250x5, 280x3, 315 (1+) x 6 reps

Felt heavy. Didn't beat last rep max with 315. Still sore from the huge workout on Thursday.

Joker sets 335x2, 345x2, 350x1 - maybe could have done two on the last set, but did not have a spotter.

Seated cable row 30 reps

Standing front press - worked up to 205x1, then 185x2, 185x1

EZ bar wall curl 30 total reps

EZ bar pullover 3s x 8

Backsliding

31 August 2015


Bench press 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 255x5, 285 (5+) x 10 reps

Matched the reps from last attempt at 285. Not quite sure why I have to do 10 reps when I could just do the minimum 6 and save some energy for the OH press. But that would actually... make sense, so I'll probably never do it.

Seated cable row 30 total reps

Standing front press 135x3, 165x2, 185x1, 205x1, 215x1, 185 x 2 singles

215 went up with a terrible grind. Even 205 felt too heavy. The way my press has been moving, I should hit a 1RM of 135 by year-end.

EZ bar wall curl 30 total reps

EZ bar pullover 30 total reps

Standing DB curl 30 total reps

Denied

22 August 2015


Bench press 135x8, 185x6, 235x3, 265x3, 300 (3+) x 7 reps

Once again, missed no. 8. I have yet to establish an 8RM in the bench press for this 3/5/1 experiment - I either stall at 7 or hit 9.

Joker sets 320x3, 330x3, 340x3 - at least the joker sets felt good.

Seated cable row 30 total reps

Standing front press 135x3, 165x1, 185x1, 205x1, 215x1, 220xfail, 190 x 2 singles

Overhead press is still stalling.

EZ bar wall curl 30 total reps

Cable fly 3s x 12

Pushdowns 3s x 15

Pushing Yourself to Power

15 August 2015


Bench press 135x8, 185x5, 225x3, 250x5, 285x3, 315 (1+) x 6 reps

Left one rep in the tank. Best ever at this weight was 8 reps at 15 pounds heavier. So this is encouraging.

Joker sets 335x2, 345x2, 355x1, 360x1

355 felt too heavy for a double, too light for a single. So I added a single with 360, which went up pretty easily.

Seated cable row 30 total reps

Standing front press 135x3, 155x2, 185x1, 205x1 - ran out of time. Will press again tomorrow to make up for lost reps.

EZ bar wall curl 30 total reps

EZ bar pullovers 30 total reps

Coach Lives

8 August 2015


Bench press 135x8, 185x6, 225x5, 255x5, 285 (5+) x 10 reps

Matched old rep PR. Very happy about this.

Seated cable row 30 total reps

Overhead press 135x3, 155x2, 185x1, 205x1, 215x1, 220x1, 225xfail, 195 x 2 singles

EZ bar wall curl 30 total reps

EZ bar pullover 50 total reps

Machine preacher curl 30 total reps per arm

First Day Back

1 August 2015


First post-vacation workout wasn't great, but didn't suck either.

Bench press 135x6, 185x5, 235x3, 265x3, 300 (3+) x 7 reps - simply ran out of gas on last set

Joker sets 320x3, 330x3, 335x3 - these were pretty hard

Seated cable row 30 total reps

Standing front press 135x3, 155x2, 185x1, 200 x 3 singles, failed 2 singles

I had nothing at this point.

EZ bar wall curl 30 total reps

Preacher curl machine 50 total reps per arm

Rope pushdowns 50 total reps

Bodyweight didn't go up by much - 210 post-vacation.

Write-Off

18 July 2015


Bench press 135x5, 185x4, 245x5, 275x3, 305 (1+) x 6 reps

Joker sets 320x2, 340x1, 350x1, 320x2

Pretty weak effort overall today. Could have gone for a second rep with 340, but did not have a spotter for that set so I bitched out. Barely made the single with 350.

Seated cable row 30 total reps

Standing front press 135x3, 165x2, 185x1, 205x1, 215xfail, 190 x 2 singles

Wall EZ bar curls 30 total reps

Weak workout overall.

Total Reps

12 July 2015


Bench press 225x5, 255x5, 275 (5+) x 11 reps

One rep off my all-time best. Not bad.

Seated cable rows 30 total reps

Standing front press 190x1, 200x1, 210x1, 220x1, 190x1

Wall EZ bar curl 30 total reps

Rope pushdowns 50 total reps

The Fourth

4 July 2015


Bench press 135x8, 185x3, 225x5, 275x3, 295 (3+) x 7 reps

Joker sets 320x3, 330x3, 340x3 - nice

Seated cable row 30 total reps

Standing front press 135x3, 160x2, 190 x 5 singles

EZ bar wall curl 50 total reps

Rope pushdowns 2s x 15

Diuretics

28 June 2015


Nasty hangover this morning. On the bright side, the extreme diuretics cycle I went through last night has brought my weight down to just over 204 pounds. Maybe I should write an article on booze as the miracle weight loss drug.

Bench press 245x3, 270x3, 300 (1+) x 7 reps

Joker sets 320x2, 340x2, 360x1

Should have gone for 355 on that last set and tied my 2RM PR.

Seated cable row 30 total reps

Shoulder complex x 2 sets

Wall curl 50 total reps

Pushdowns 50 total reps

Ziltoid the Omniscient

21 June 2015


Bench press 225x5, 245x5, 270 (5+) x 11 reps

Pump city.

Seated cable row 30 total reps

Incline DB flyes 3s x 10

Form was very poor, I just couldn't get both arms to press up at the same time for some reason. Will keep doing these to hopefully iron out some shoulder issues I've been having.

DB tricep extensions 1s x 15, then 3s x 10 heavy

DB curl 50 total reps

Tomorrow I'll try switching the pulls and squats round (i.e. pull before squat) because the pull weights are getting heavy. Will see how this works (or not).

Empathy Quotient

15 June 2015


Bench press 135x8, 185x6, 225x5, 265x3, 290 (3+) x 9 reps

Joker sets 310x3, 330x4

Wanted to do 310-330-340, but gym was as hot as a swamp and I just wanted to get out of the weight area. So I did an extra rep with 330 and told myself it's just as good.

Seated cable row 30 total reps

Incline bench DB curl 40 total reps

That was it for today. Overhead press and triceps tomorrow.

Bench Press - Ones Week

7 June 2015


Bench press 135x7, 185x4, 230x5, 265x3, 295 (1+) x 7 reps

Felt nice and easy, stopped at 7 as there was no one to spot me.

Joker sets: 315x2, 330x2, 340x3, 350x2

No idea where this came from, but I'll take it. 340 felt extremely light so I tried 350. By this point I'd found a spotter, who may or may have not touched the bar on the second rep. In any case, this is the heaviest non-slingshot double I've done in a long while, and it was pretty easy.

Seated cable rows 30 total reps

One-arm preacher curl machine 50 reps per arm

Tricep pushdowns 50 reps

Lateral DB raises 50 reps

Spiked Supplements and Some Pressing

2 June 2015


Combined bench press and overhead press because I won't be able to lift Friday and Saturday.

Bench press 135x5, 185x4, 225x3, 265 (5+) x 12 reps

Cardio bench. Could have gone for 2-3 more, but my triceps were starting to seize up and I had no spotter.

Standing front press 135x4, 165x2, 185x1, 205x1, 215x1, 225 x 4 singles

Failed rep #3, nailed the other four. It was hard, but doable. Also I don't understand how I can OH press more after doing a high-rep set on the bench press than when I do the OH press fresh, as my main lift. But whatever, glad my press is finally moving forward.

Seated cable row 30 total reps, heavy

Preacher curl machine 50 total reps per arm

DB lateral raise 50 total reps

Rope pushdowns 50 total reps