Week 7: Day 2
Paused Bench: 3x10-42.5kg
JM Press: 2x13,1x15-35kg
Flys: 3x12-12kg Dbs
Preworkout: Felt pretty good, a bit tired- especially legs- but nothing too bad
Workout: Bench felt pretty strong and happy that I finally got 3x10 good reps. Bench really worked upper back and triceps. JM Press felt really good and killed triceps- got a good pump. Flys were pretty hard mentally, but not too bad physically
Postworkout: Upper body pumped, felt energized
How is it that you had a hard time doing sets of 5 with 65kg but can do 60kgx4 paused? Something here doesn’t add up. How long are you resting between sets?
I kept rest to two minutes for the 65kg, but then found it stressful and stopped timing. Also, I tend to feel slightly better as the workout progresses, then the fatigue really creeps up at the end- like a bell curve.The 60kg actually felt good on my back. The last set was pretty much impossible though
What are your warmup sets like?
10 min easy cardio, 1x5-20kg, 1x5-40kg, 1x5-50kg, 1x2-60kg
Week 7: Day 3
Deadlift: 1x1-120kg; 5x5-95kg
RDL: 3x6-70kg
Rows: 3x10-62.5kg
Preworkout: Felt pretty good and energized, nothing sore or tired
Workout: Warmups flew up so I decided to push the weight a bit. Pretty disappointed that I only got 120kg (my old max) for 1 rep and barely at that. Back offs were harder than expected- glutes and quads pumped. Lunges were not happening today, so I did RDLs instead. Those really killed my core- admittedly, back rounded by the last reps. Mentally harder than physically though and I got a bit lightheaded. Rows not too bad
Postworkout: Mentally totally buzzed and amazing, but physically dead
Week 7: Day 4
Close grip bench: 3x8-40kg
Overhead Press: 3x8-30kg
Skullcrushers: 3x12-25kg
Technique: HS walk
Preworkout: really tired mentally and physically. I’ve noticed that I sleep badly after deadlift days. Legs were also pretty sore
Workout: Felt a lot better after warmup and bench felt pretty strong. Mentally hard to complete though and rests probably way too long. Triceps dead. Overhead press didn’t feel too heavy, but really hard to complete. reps 1-5 felt fine, then it felt as if a switch turned off and the bar struggled to move. Skullcrushers felt fine, nothing too bad
Postworkout: Felt a lot better than preworkout. Upper body pumped and good
Week 7: Day 5
Front Squat: 1x3-62.5kg, 4x5-57.6kg
Lunges: 3x10- 55kg EMOM
Overhead Squat: 2x6,1x4-30kg
Preworkout: felt pretty good physically and mentally- not tired or energized either, pretty happy to squat
Workout: Warmups felt really good but form started to break down on my top set so I cut it. back offs weren’t too bad on legs but had a hard time holding the bar up. Hips shifted quite a bit. Lunges felt pretty good and got Heartrate up but balance a bit difficult. Legs pumped.
Postworkout: Legs pumped but not too dead, felt really good and accomplished. Best workout in a long time
Week 7: Day 6
Touch and go Bench: 3x6-105lbs
DB Incline Bench: 3x8-18kg Dbs
Dips: 1x12,2x11-18kg Dbs
Preworkout: lower body really sore and pretty tired, didn’t feel like workout out at all
Workout: Bench felt heavy and hard, pretty disappointed. I actually began to feel a lot better after the bench and DB incline bench and dips felt good. Chest and triceps pumped and dead, but the sets were mentally harder to complete than anything. Took long rests
Postworkout: Felt better than preworkout, good upper body workout
Chris,
My family is going to NYC from February 3-8 for CNY vacation. I’ll only have access to a crappy hotel gym (dumbbells up to 50lbs pretty much the only usable equipment). What should I do?
I saw this earlier but I got distracted, I would have responded sooner.
I wouldn’t worry too much about it, you don’t have a meet coming up and the trip is only a few days. If there are machines you could use those, otherwise just do some bodybuilding-style workouts with what is available. You can do goblet squats or just squat holding the dumbbells at your side, dumbbell bench press, rows, single leg or split stance RDLs, and so on. Who knows, maybe the equipment won’t be as bad as you expect but even if it is you can still do something. Either way, you came back from your ski trip OK and that’s worse than a relaxed trip out of town with some light training.
If you aren’t feeling too fatigued right now you can keep going for a couple more weeks and use the week of your trip as a deload.
How are your squat and deadlift feeling in terms of technique? I see you mentioned rounding your back of RDLs, don’t do that. If you can’t maintain a neutral spine then stop the set. Post some videos so I can see what is going on.
Technique is definitely getting better with squats. Deadlift is still iffy when the weight gets heavy (above 230lbs). RDLs are a mixed bag depending on how tired I am after the squats.
Week 8: Day 1
Paused Bench: 4x5-45kg
JM Press: 2x14, 1x13-35kg
Flys: 3x10-14kg
Preworkout: a bit tired but upper body felt pretty good. First time I was actually looking forward to benching
Workout: Bench felt heavy but strong. Couldn’t get more than 5 reps, so I did an extra set. Mentally actually felt pretty good, not dragging as usual. JM press felt good and really worked triceps, but harder than expected. Triceps pretty pumped. Flys really worked my chest and got a pretty good pump. Felt boring though
Postworkout: Felt pretty energized and accomplished. Upper body pumped but not dead
Week 8: Day 2
Back Squat: 5x5-65kg
Pause Squat: 3x4, 1x5-60kg
Lat Pulldown: 2x14,1x13-27.5kg
Preworkout: Pretty tired mentally and not too motivated but physically fine. Knees a bit tight though
Workout: Warmups felt quite heavy, but work sets were a lot easier than expected. 5x5 went by really fast. Pause squats felt great too and really killed quads and hamstrings. I didn’t really feel any of the squats in my glutes. The hip shift problem is getting better. Lat pulldowns fine, but mentally hard
Postworkout: Pretty energized. Lower body tired but not dead. Felt really good and accomplished
Do you have a video so I can see what is going on?
Sorry no. I found that filming takes a lot of time and I only have an hour. I also find it hard to set up. Any tips to make it more efficient?
If you train in the same place (same rack, bench platform) then find the appropriate spot to set your camera/phone and keep setting it there.
If I can’t see what your squat looks like then I really don’t know what to tell you, you were saying that things were going well before but obviously they weren’t. Unless you have someone with sufficient experience watching you lift you should be filming your work sets, or at least a few of them. Otherwise you might be in for an unpleasant surprise.
Sometimes this can be a blessing; a brief break from your normal routine, chance to work yourself a little differently. When I’m at a hotel with the token gym dumbbells that go from 5-50 pounds, I like to do a workout where I start with the 5’s and do one set of 12 reps of “whatever” with each pair. Start with lateral raises, then front raises, then curls, then hammer curls, and eventually presses or rows. It may be a nice change of pace / deload for you.
Okay. Point noted
Week 8: Day 3
Touch and go Bench: 1x6,3x5-100lbs
Overhead Press: 2x7,1x6-32.5kg
Skullcrushers: 1x10,11,12-27.5kg
Preworkout: mentally fine but physically pretty tired. Lower body tight and stomach not feeling so great
Workout: Bench felt heavy but not as bad as expected. The first three reps felt fine, then it became an all out fight. Probably could have squeezed out an extra rep or 2 on the last two sets, but decided not to. Overhead press felt crap. The bar just didn’t want to move. Skullcrushers felt pretty good and killed triceps
Postworkout: Pretty disappointed with workout, upper body pretty tired, didn’t really feel like I worked out otherwise.
It seems that you have bad workouts rather frequently, if you aren’t making good progress like this then you might be better off cutting back training to 4 days a week. If you don’t feel good and don’t perform well on a regular basis, plus your lifts are not making a whole lot of progress, then it’s likely that you will get more out of doing less.