Bench Press PR Day and the Plague

12 December 2014


I've come down with what feels like the plague. Was still able to lift, but energy levels were down and people at the gym were giving me the evil eye when I would sneeze or blow my nose. I made sure I wiped everything down after I was done using it, so maybe that helped.

Bench press 135x8, 185x4, 225x3, 275x2, 315x2, 335x1, 355x1, 375x1, 395x1

Lifted butt off bench a bit on that last one, but I'll take it.

Bench press w. SlingShot 415 x fail

Spotter had to intervene. The weight crushed me like a ton of bricks coming down, but came up nicely from the bottom and only stalled about halfway up. Was super tired from the previous single too, felt like my entire upper body had cramped up.

Push press 135x5, 165x2, 185x2, 205x2 - called it a day. Zero wrist pain today, which was great.

A bunch of sets for arms on various cable machines - curls, pushdowns, neutral-grip pulldowns.

Multiple Squats

9 December 2014


Speed/volume squat 300 lbs. 2s x 5, 370 lbs. 2s x 5

Front squat 5x5 - had to lower the weight on last two sets.

Leg extensions 3s x 10

Leg curl 3s x 8-10

25 minutes cycling.

Light Press

8 December 2014


Went pretty light today and cut out the paused bench press because I'll try to max out later this week. Everything felt good, but I did notice a few niggling shoulder and elbow pains. Hopefully these will be gone by Friday.

Bench press 275 lbs. 2s x 5, 285 lbs. 1x5 - all easy and explosive.

Seated cable row 12-10-8-6

Pec deck cable machine 3s x 8-10

Dips 3s x 12

Bicep tri-set (preacher curl + EZ bar curl + spider curl) 2 sets

12 minutes on rowing machine.

Squats and Deadlifts - Crippled Edition

4 December 2014


Today my left hip started hurting for no particular reason, a sharp stabbing pain like someone knifing me way inside the hip. At some point it got so bad I had to walk funny (or funnier than usual).

I've had this kind of pain before (the first time it happened I thought I'd torn something in my hip) and I was pretty sure I knew how to get rid of it, so I foam rolled my left IT band when I got home and found incredibly tight and painful trigger points. I can't get to the gym tomorrow and will be out of town for the weekend, so I went ahead and squatted anyway.

The pain got a lot better, but didn't go away by the time I started squatting. I couldn't push my knees out far enough when squatting, because as soon as I passed a certain depth my hip would seize up. So I had to squat with my knees more forward than usual. Still decided to go through with the planned workout, depth might have been iffy on a couple of reps but the weight was relatively light so I didn't think this was a big deal.

Squat 135x5, 225x3, 275x3, 315x3, 375x3, 405x3, 435x3 (belt and wraps), 475x3 (B+W)

Deadlift 450 lbs. x 5 singles - no pain here, I was able to hit the planned weight, which is just under 90%.

Hammer curls supersetted with reverse EZ bar curls x 3 sets - didn't want to do more lower body stuff, so did this instead.

BTN press (light) and arms scheduled for tomorrow.

Bench Press - Doubles Week

3 December 2014


Bench press 135x7, 185x4, 225x3, 275x3, 295x2, 320x3, 350x2, SlingShot 385x2

Wanted three reps on the 350 set, but even 2 felt tough. I also managed to double my SlingShot-less 1RM, which is great. Maxing out next week, trying to beat 385 "raw" and 410 with the SlingShot.

After max-out week I'll focus on incline pressing for a month, then restart the cycle with the sets of 6.

Push press 135x3, 165x2, 185x2, 205x2 - wrist pain (again), stopped there.

Bent-over row (for a change) 10-8-6-6

Will do arms in a separate session on Friday.

Hip Drive

1 December 2014


Speed squat 300 lbs. 2s x 5, 370 lbs. 2s x 5

Much faster than last week.

Front squat, light, x5, x5, x5, x3, x5

Hack squat 3s x 8

Leg curl 3s x 8

Drudgery

30 November 2014


Paused speed bench press 275 lbs. 4s x 3

Seated cable row 12-10-8-6

DB flyes 3s x 10

DB tricep extensions 3s x 10-12

Bicep tri-sets (preacher curl + EZ bar curl + concentration curl) x 3